The Smile of a Cat
by Sasuke10
Summary: I didn't go to an academy for a simple reason. It wasn't for me. The teamwork, having to rely on someone? I couldn't even rely on my own parents as a kid, how could I rely on someone else to succeed? No, so instead I was chosen to be an apprentice of a real hunter, and this is my story. Rated T for possible language, themes, or action.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! It's been a long time since I've put anything up on here, but I binge watched all of RWBY about a month ago and I've had the idea of this character and the plot line stuck in my head since I started watching it. I don't own anything RWBY, everything belongs to Rooster Teeth. I also just want you to know that this will for the most part probably follow the main anime (it definetly will for volume 3, since that is where it's starting off) but it might diverge a little once it gets to the end of volume 3/the time jump of 4. But we'll see when we get there. Anyway, enjoy! Rates and reviews are welcome!**

Volume 1, Chapter 1: Welcome to Vale

"What're we doing here? Shouldn't we be out, I don't know? Hunting Grim or something?" I muttered as we trudged down the sidewalk. I drug my feet against the almost pristine, perfect looking sidewalk. This entire city looked perfect, and it disgusted me.

"It's the Vytal Festival, Chess. Geez, take a break."

"Says the one who trains me from dawn to dusk every single day." I muttered, running my hands through my deep purple hair. My tail flicked in agitation as I looked at the man next to me.

The man chuckled, his bright red eyes flashing mischievously. He had dark, graying hair that didn't come pass his ears except for his bangs, which brushed his eyebrows. He wore a gray dress shirt with a long tail, a tattered red cloak, black pants, and worn black shoes. A sword was strapped to his back.

I followed after him without any more questions, though I seriously detested this city. Vale. Just thinking about the name disgusted me. However, it was honestly any of the major cities that made me sick. I followed him down some alleys, which were, for alleys, surprisingly clean.

"Jesus Christ does this city even have dirt in it?" I grumbled. A quick scoff was issued from in front of me, before we walked out back on to another street. It wasn't one of the city's major streets, but it still looked pristine. He led me across the street to a small (but of course clean) bar called 'Crow Bar'.

"Should have known you were just going to get drunk." I sighed from across the street, before quickly jogging to catch up as we walked inside.

"Welcome to Crow Bar, can I get you two anything?" The bartender asked as he picked up a glass and a rag and began shining the glass even though there was nobody else in the bar and by all appearances it seemed we were the first customers of the day, unsurprisingly since it was barely past noon.

"I'll take a glass of rum and coke." As we sat down at the bar I noticed that there was a stadium style fight that was about to happen on the tv behind the bar.

"Oh, now I know why we're here. You just had to watch those two, huh?" As the bartender began pouring him his drink I sighed and dropped my bag on the ground next to my chair. "Just water for me, please."

"And the next fight will be between Team JNPR and Team BRNZ!"

"You're here to watch the Vytal fights? They're going to be great this year, there's a lot of great talent coming from the academies!" The bartender seemed far more interested in these fights than I ever would be, so as he placed our drinks on the counter in front of us I stood up.

"I'm going to the bathroom." I muttered before slinking to the back of the bar in to the bathroom which was, of _course_ , clean. Annoyingly so.

I walked over to the sink and turned it on, cupping my hands underneath the running water. I splashed the ice cold water in my face, before looking up at my reflection in the mirror.

My bright yellow eyes flashed back at me as I reached up and pushed my dark purple bangs out of my face. My hair ran to my jaw, always unruly no matter what I tried to do with it. I reached up and rolled the sleeves of my pale purple, almost white, button-up shirt up to my elbows, and unbuttoned the top button of my shirt. I adjusted my vest, which was the same color as my hair, and brushed some of the dirt off of my black pants. I looked at my shoes and grumbled and my dark and light purple striped tail flicked in agitation. They were, along with my master's shoes, probably the dirtiest thing in this whole city. Hell, let's face it. My master and I were the dirtiest things in this city, even though we were perpetually dressed as if we were preparing to go to some fancy event. I picked up my clothing style from him, no matter how annoying it was.

I dried my face and hands with a paper towel before walking back in to the bar. I sat in my seat just in time to see that Team JNPR had won the fight, which didn't mean anything to me except that a woman with long red hair was on the team.

"Is that Pyrrha Nikos?" I asked as I took a sip of water.

"Oh yeah, she's probably the most promising student at Beacon right now!"

I glanced sideways at my master, who just grunted and drained his glass of the remaining liquid in it. A few announcers came on the tv to announce the next fight, which looked like it was happening between a boy band and an all-girls group. I scoffed. What a joke.

The match was extremely close, but somehow the boy band team won.

"Phew! That was a match!" The bartender exclaimed. I glanced at my master and was surprised to find that he was now on his fifth drink.

"That was a mess." He slurred as he placed his empty glass on the bar.

"Come on man, you didn't like them, the Vale kids, or any of the rounds before that? What fight are you here for?" I smirked and looked at him with a mischievous smile spread across my face.

"Yeah, what fight _are_ we here for?" I asked him, turning sideways in my seat.

Then, I heard a large ship from outside. I glanced out of the bar and saw that it was, in fact, a large, expensive looking ship coming in to land. It was bright, pristine white. The man glanced over his shoulder, saw the ship, and smirked.

"That one." He said as he placed money on the bar to cover the tab, and stood up. "C'mon, Chess."

"Thanks for the drinks." I nodded to the tender, before chasing after my master, throwing my dusty bag over my shoulders. He led me down some streets, before we reached a main street that dumped in to a big landing pad, the very one the ship we'd seen had landed on.

"Whose ship was that?" I didn't get a response, just a few low chuckles. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, but kept following him anyway as he walked down the street towards the ship, which was almost an entire football field away. I'd have to be the one to make sure his drunk ass got in to a bed somewhere at some point tonight.

As we neared the ship I noticed a very formal, important looking woman talking to two girls who looked about my age surrounded by multiple soldiers. We were too far away for details, but one of the girls and the woman both had snow white hair and the other girl wore a black dress and had dark hair. I blinked my eyes as my master stopped moving and I stared at the woman and the girl with white hair.

"Wait, is that the Schnee family ship?" I looked at my master as I stepped up to be shoulder to shoulder with him. I didn't get an answer as he stared at the group, before the two with white hair and the group of soldiers began walking down another street, towards what I realized was Beacon Academy. My master followed after them, but at a far enough distance to keep them from realizing we were following them. If these were the Schnee women, what did my master want with them?

Suddenly, my master began walking with a purpose towards the group, and quickly drew away from me as he reached the two furthest soldiers. In a matter of seconds he'd destroyed them both, decapitating one and throwing it towards the group as they realized something had happened, and turned to look towards us.

"Hey! Yeah, I'm talking to you, _Ice Queen_." His words were still slurred, but I knew that there was a sudden serious tone in his voice.

"Halt!" The woman commanded as the remaining soldiers moved to confront him. The soldiers, robots programmed to listen to whoever was in charge of them, stopped moving instantly. I jogged quickly to catch up, but stood about five feet back from him, throwing my bag on the ground to the side. Now that I was closer, I knew that these two were the Schnee girls. The daughter of the head Schnee himself.

"Excuse me, but do you have any idea who you're talking to?" The girl asked snottily as she pranced up and stood in front my master.

I scoffed audibly, which caused her to turn and look at me.

"What do _you_ want?" She asked after a pause, in which she took in my tail, and looked at me with disgust. My tail twitched, and I snarled. She was a racist. Of course.

"He wasn't talking to you, little girl." I growled. My master shoved her aside, towards me, and walked forward towards the woman.

"Little girl?" The girl suddenly took an interest in me. "I'll have you know-"

"Shut up. I snarled as I reached in my back pocket and pulled out my claws, attaching them to my hands.

My claws were my weapon of choice. They were similar in design to brass knuckles. They were silver and attached almost like a metal glove that extended almost to my elbow, with straps around the wrist and halfway to my forearm to keep them on. They had individual long, sharp blades on each finger that could retract back in to the metal. The bottom of the glove ran the length of my forearm and had a barrel that acted like a gun. I normally wore them all the time, except I'd taken them off when we'd entered the city. I hadn't expected a fight.

"Chess!" I was suddenly scolded, even though my master hadn't turned around. "Behave yourself." I sighed and retracted my claws, still glaring at the girl, who smirked at me.

"Look who's the little kid now." I picked my bag up, shoved pass her, and moved to the side of the road to watch the rest of the events unfold.

"You realized you just destroyed Atlas property?" The woman asked angrily.

He looked around at the destroyed soldiers on the ground, and feigned surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. I took this for, sentient garbage."

"I don't have time for your immature games, Qrow."

"Wait, you two know each other?" The girl behind me asked as she moved to join sides with her sister again.

"Geez, you're real keen aren't you?" I asked as I moved to stand next to Qrow.

"You Atlas specialist think you're so special, don't you?" Qrow asked, kicking an arm of one of the soldiers next to his foot.

"It's in the title." The woman retorted quickly.

"Well you know what you really are?" I twitched my tail in anticipation. This was going to get very good, very fast. "A bunch of sell outs." I smirked as the girl looked surprised. How dare anyone challenge their precious family? "Just like your boss."

"I'm not sure what you think you're implying, but I've heard enough." The woman was getting obviously angrier as this confrontation went on.

"Oh I've heard too. I've heard old Ironwood turned his back on Ozpin." I blinked and stopped, and looked at Qrow. Ironwood turned on Ozpin? And I was just now hearing about this?

"Ozpin?" The girl next to the woman asked.

"What're you talking about, Qrow?"

"Weiss, it's time for you to go." The woman said as she shoved the girl behind her.

"Listen to big sister, Weiss." Qrow laughed. "She'll protect you just like Atlas is going to protect all of us, huh?"

"We'll see about that one." I said as I grinned toothily at Weiss, my sharp fangs showing.

"Chess, stay out of this."

"But, Qrow-"

"No!" I flinched at how loud and authoritative Qrow suddenly got. He never got that firm with me.

"Fine." I sheathed my claws and backed to the side as the woman took another step towards Qrow.

"If you won't hold your tongue, or your little kitten's tongue, then I will gladly remove it for you." The woman threatened as she pulled out a sword.

"Kitten?" I shouted as Qrow pushed his bangs back out of his eyes, as he always did before a fight, and smirked.

"All right then, come take it!" In the blink of an eye the woman had crossed the ten yards between them and was attempting to stab Qrow with her sword, but he was easily dodging them with simple moves to the side. Finally, he pulled his sword off his back, brandishing it in all of its glory.

It had a red handle with a silver hand guard on the right side, and nothing on the left. The blade was moderately long, with what looked like multiple cuts in it at different lengths. Connecting the handle and blade was a portion of metal and a ball of glass that showcased a few gears.

Qrow went on the offensive, and the two began trading strikes back and forth, each blocking the other's attack.

"What's going on?" A shrill voice came from behind us as Weiss had moved to join me. I glanced back to see that the girl who had been with Weiss and her sister earlier was there. She had dark hair with red tips, and pale gray eyes. She wore a black dress, a long red cape, black leggings, and black boots. I blinked at her.

"Ruby?" I had expected to see her at some point, but was still shocked. It'd been almost five years since I'd last seen her. She looked at me in confusion, before realization dawned in her eyes.

"Chess? What're you doing here?"

"Wait, _you_ two know each other?" Weiss asked in shock.

"Of course, he trains under my uncle!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Wait, that crazy guy who attacked my sister is your uncle?" Weiss asked. Ruby looked confused, but suddenly seemed to remember the fight going on, turned to look, and jumped in the air.

"Yeah, that's my uncle! Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!" The entire time Ruby did nothing but shout, just like I remembered. Weiss growled and clenched her fists in agitation, turning back to the fight herself.

"Teach him some respect, Winter!"

The fight grew more intense as blows begun to actually land and be traded, before the two started destroying parts of the city around them (mainly the concrete and a lamp post). Then they took off and started using the large architectural landscape of Beacon as their battleground.

Winter's large sword broke down in to two smaller ones, and she used some sort of ice magic to summon a flock of ice birds, which flew right at Qrow. He destroyed the ones he needed to with his sword, before throwing one of them back at Winter, causing her to stop her magic.

She jumped back, before a large sigil appeared in the air behind her, as if she was charging up for something. Qrow held his sword out slightly further away from him, and the gears began turning. His sword broke apart at the cracks, and began transforming in to a scythe, before he stopped the transformation, sheathed his sword on his back, and smiled at Winter. He motioned for her to come to him.

This seemed to piss Winter off way more than she already was.

The sigil shot Winter towards Qrow, her sword pointed in front of her at Qrow's neck level. I knew there was no way Qrow would just let her win, but I still jumped before a loud, authoritative voice echoed across the grounds.

"Schnee!" Winter stopped in her tracks, her sword tip at Qrow's throat, and Qrow smirked. I blinked and looked over to find a man in a white, royal military uniform standing with his hands behind his back and looking extremely disappointed at Winter.

"General Ironwood, Sir." Winter turned and stood at attention, her swords in her hands and by her sides. Qrow smirked and took a step away from her, also looking at Ironwood.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" I noticed a girl with bushy, orange hair and green eyes standing behind Ironwood at a distance, looking extremely nervous, but ignored her and turned my attention back to the squabbling adults.

"He started the altercation, sir." Winter began defending herself.

"That's actually not true, she attacked first." Qrow put his hands behind his head calmly, his words no longer slurred. A good fight always sobered Qrow up.

"Is that right?" Winter stood with her mouth open for a moment, seeming to search for some sort of excuse, before dropping her head in defeat.

Ironwood stood for a moment, looking at the rather large crowd of mostly Beacon students that had gathered. He stopped and looked at me for a moment, before turning to look at Qrow and stepping closer. I decided to move towards them, leaving Ruby and Weiss.

"And you, what're you and your student doing here?" He asked firmly, but his volume lowered ever so slightly.

"I could be asking you the same thing." Qrow answered with a smartass smile on his face as I joined him at his shoulder.

Ironwood opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted as a man with gray hair, black spectacles, and a green scarf entered the previous fighting ring with a blonde woman with a purple cloak. I smiled. Ozpin. I was almost as fond of Ozpin as I was of Qrow. If Qrow was my father figure Ozpin was easily my grandfather figure.

"There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the coliseum that I can assure you has better seats, and popcorn." Ozpin calmly addressed the crowd, swirling what I assumed was coffee in a mug and taking a long sip from it.

"Break it up everyone!" The blond woman next to him shouted. "We will take care of this mess." She faced the three squabbling adults as a mother might if she had caught her own children fighting.

"Let's go." Ironwood ordered the soldiers and Winter, and began walking towards Ozpin and the woman, who had turned and were walking towards Beacon. I looked at Qrow and waited for orders.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby screamed from behind us, before running forward and latching on to Qrow's arm. "Hi." She smiled up at him in excitement. "It's so good to see you!" He held his arm out parallel with the ground, which in turned raised Ruby up to eye level with him. "Did you miss me? Did you miss me?"

"Nope." He said as his face broke in to a smile and he rubbed her hair affectionately as he set her back on the ground.

"Qrow!" Ozpin suddenly called from where he stood next to the blond woman, who was fixing the damage done to the concrete and lamp post with her magic. "A word, please."

Qrow leaned towards Ruby and held a hand up to block Ozpin from seeing what he was saying.

"I think I'm in trouble."

"You did kind of tear up our courtyard." Ruby said, shrugging with a smile.

"Yeah, I did." Qrow winked at Ruby and bumped fists with her. "Catch ya later, kid." He turned and began walking towards Ozpin. "Come on, Chess. If I'm getting yelled at you are too."

I looked at Ruby and rolled my eyes, before jogging to catch up. "I didn't even do anything!" I defended myself, and Qrow just chuckled.

"Like that's stopped me from pinning blame on you before."

We caught up to Ozpin and the blond woman, and I looked around for Ironwood and Winter. "Where did Winter and Ironwood go?" I asked.

"They went on ahead to my office, where we're heading now." Ozpin calmly answered as he smiled at me.

"It's good to see you, Cheshmire." He smiled, and I smiled in return.

"It's good to see you too, Ozpin."

We were then led to his office in silence. It was actually pretty awkward, as Qrow was definitely in trouble. However it seemed I was on perfectly good terms with Ozpin, so there was no way Qrow would be able to pin blame on me. Perfect.

We were in an elevator in Beacon Academy before it finally pinged, and opened up in to Ozpin's office. We stepped inside to find Ironwood standing next to a desk calmly with Winter pacing back and forth in front of it.

"What were you thinking?" Winter shouted as soon as she saw Qrow, who was standing at the front of the group now.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!" Ironwood added in.

"If I was one of your men I'd shoot myself." Qrow answered calmly as he pulled his flask out of his pocket. I chuckled as everyone moved to different positions in the room. Ozpin in his chair, Ironwood next to the desk like he was, Winter next to Ironwood, the blond woman next to Ozpin, Qrow at the other end of the desk from Ironwood, and me leaning against a pillar right next to Qrow.

Winter seemed to just realize that I was here. "Really, you brought the kid in here?" She looked from Qrow to Ozpin.

"Chess's just as important to this group as anyone else." Qrow answered calmly. "He may be the same age as your sister, but they're nowhere near on the same level." He took a long swig from his flask before looking at Winter, as if daring her to say more.

"Anyway, while I certainly wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly wasn't the answer." The blond woman said, chastising Winter.

"He was drunk!"

"He's _always_ drunk!" I piped in, laughing at her. As if she didn't know that. If you knew Qrow at all, you knew he was drunk.

As if to prove my point, Qrow was currently chugging multiple sips of whatever alcohol was in his flask, before realizing that everyone was looking at him and stopping.

Ozpin sighed in exhaustion. "Qrow, why are you here?" He asked, his head in his hand as he looked at the red-eyed drunk.

"You've been out of contact for weeks!" Ironwood stated, not giving Qrow the chance to answer.

I gulped and decided to stay silent. I knew Qrow hadn't been reporting back, but I didn't expect it to be a problem. We'd been in dangerous territory. Our lives had constantly been threatened.

"You can't just go dark like that in the field!"

"I'm not one of your special operatives, _Jimmy_."

"General!" Winter shouted, as if Qrow's disrespect was the most important topic right now.

"Whatever." Qrow snarled, turning to ignore Winter and to face the rest of the group. "You sent me to get intel on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy's here."

"We know." Ironwood answered after a pause. I stopped breathing. I could have screamed. They _knew_? We were risking our lives, we could have died, and they _knew_?

"Oh! Oh, you know! Well thank goodness we're out there risking our lives to keep you all informed!" Qrow shouted, looking like the physical embodiment of my anger, looking as if he could punch Ironwood if he didn't expect to get in even more trouble for it.

"Qrow!" Ironwood shouted.

"Communication! It's a two way street, pal." Qrow retorted, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "You see this?" He pointed to the screen. "That's the send button."

"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised." Winter interjected, _again_.

"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here." Qrow spat at her, his red eyes flashing dangerously. "Seriously, who invited her?"

"Who invited the kid?" Winter retorted, shoving her finger in my direction.

"Me." Qrow answered dangerously as he took a step towards her, daring her to say something.

There was a long moment of silence, which was awkward to me as I could feel everyone in the room thinking about the presence of an 18 year old in the room.

"Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back on my ship." Ironwood finally broke the silence. He spoke with authority, but the volume was barely above a whisper.

"But, sir-"

"Winter. Leave." Ironwood responded firmly, his volume raised ever so slightly.

Winter stared at him in shock for a moment, before standing straight and saluting him. "Yes, sir." She glared at both Qrow and myself as she left. Row winked at her and I smirked ever so slightly. We all watched as she crossed the room and entered the elevator and left.

Ironwood, the blonde woman, and Ozpin all looked at Qrow expectantly. "Go on." Ironwood ordered.

"Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They're the ones responsible for Autumn's condition." Qrow answered as he pulled out his flask.

"What?" The woman gasped in shock.

"Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers, or generals, or headmasters, or little kids." Qrow motioned at everyone in the room. "The people in this room, the leaders of the other two academies, we're the ones that keep the world safe from evils no one even knows about. It's why we meet behind closed doors, why we meet in the shadows. So you tell me, James." Qrow turned and glared at Ironwood accusingly. "When you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet? Or did you just not give a damn?" Ironwood and Qrow glared at each other for what felt like eternity. I felt like I was on pins and needles with this conversation and I didn't know what to do.

"Discreet wasn't working." Ironwood finally broke eye contact with Qrow, turning to the desk as he pulled his phone out. He put it on the desk and I watched in awe as a digital map of Vale was uploaded in the center of the room with images of ships located around it. "I'm here because this is what's necessary."

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here. He made you a part of this inner circle, and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us." Qrow answered in a no-your-answer-is-wrong-and-here's-the-right-one kind of way.

"And I'm grateful." Ironwood responded.

"Oh, well you've got a real funny way of showing it." Qrow turned away from him, grabbing his hair in frustration.

"The people of Vale needed someone to protect them. Someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe. And our enemies will feel our strength." Ironwood explained, his eyes lighting up with some sort of purpose. Qrow began laughing hysterically, and turned back to face him.

"You-you think they're scare of your little ships? I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made and let me tell you…. They are fear." Qrow ended his statement menacingly. My entire body shook with a sudden chill. I had seen what Qrow was talking about. The entirety of the past few weeks were some of the worst terrors I'd seen since being with Qrow. I knew it was our job to deal with them, but I didn't want to. At all.

"And fear will bring the grim." Ozpin interjected suddenly. "A guardian is a symbol of comfort. But an _army_ , is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy, in the air now. A question in the back of everyone's minds. If this is the size of our defenses, what is it we're expecting to fight?"

Everyone turned their heads from looking at Ozpin to face Ironwood as if waiting for an answer.

"So then, what would you suggest we do?" Ironwood asked finally as he crossed the room and picked up his phone.

"I suggest we find our guardian." Ozpin finally answered.

Everyone stood in the room for a few more minutes, before the woman finally coughed. "I think this is enough for one night, maybe we should meet at a later time."

"I think you're right Ms. Goodwitch." Ozpin nodded and stood from his chair. Ironwood nodded and left the room without another word. Ms. Goodwitch nodded at Ozpin and looked at Qrow with an eyebrow raised, before leaving herself.

Qrow sighed in frustration and looked at me. "Let's go, kid."

"Qrow, I want you to stay in the city for the remainder of the festival." Ozpin said before we even had the chance to move.

"Is that an order?" Qrow asked without even looking at Ozpin. I tensed up. I knew how Qrow felt about being ordered around, but I also knew he respected Ozpin more than anyone and that he respected him enough to do whatever he said or asked, no matter how it came to him. But Ozpin had always just asked Qrow to do things, never ordered him.

"Of course not, Qrow. I would think you would know by now that I would never order you to do anything." Ozpin looked genuinely hurt by Qrow's accusation.

Qrow sighed and looked at the ground, letting his shoulders slump. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just-"

"I know." Ozpin moved and placed a hand on Qrow's shoulder. "General Ironwood informed me earlier today of what he knew. If I'd known sooner I would have tried to contact you." Qrow nodded.

"I'll stick around for the rest of the festival. I need to do some catching up with my nieces anyway." He smiled at Ozpin. "Thank you for everything, Ozpin."

"Of course." Ozpin smiled at Qrow and turned to me. "And if you need anything at all while you're here, Cheshmire, don't hesitate to ask. Treat Beacon like it's your academy because, well, it basically is."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you, sir."

Qrow placed a hand on my shoulder, and with that we left and began walking towards whatever hotel we were planning on staying at.

"So…" I muttered as we were walking down a street, guided by the bright light from the street lamps. "I'm guessing they're going to send you on some super important mission soon, right? That's why we came to Vale, right? To drop me off at Beacon?" Qrow stopped and looked at me in confusion.

"Why wouldn't you come with me?"

"You heard Winter, and I know Ironwood and Ms. Goodwitch think the exact same thing as them. I'm a kid, they'd never agree to sending me on some dangerous mission."

"Chess, you've been on every mission, and I mean _every_ mission I've been handed since you were eleven. That's seven years of missions. Guaranteed, these last three years have been the most dangerous missions I've gotten in a long time, but still. I don't care what any of them say, short of Ozpin himself, and he sees exactly what I see in you. There's no way I go on a mission without you, unless they need you to do a separate mission." Qrow said, keeping eye contact with me the whole time.

"What I said back there? About everyone in that room being the protectors of Remnant? I meant _everyone_ in that room. That includes you, kid." He said the last sentence as he poked his finger in my chest, before turning and continuing down the street.

"Now come on, just because we're stuck here doesn't mean we're slacking on your training."


	2. Chapter 2

Volume 1, Chapter 2: Growing Pains  


"Alright, Chess. That's enough for today."

I sheathed my claws and rubbed my elbow, where Qrow had hit me with the pommel of his sword during our sparring match.

"But we've barely started." I looked up at the sun and then back at Qrow. We'd only been out here for a few hours.

Qrow had drug me out of Vale early in the morning to keep out of the eye of any citizen or someone looking for people like us. However, Qrow said this wasn't a vacation but he hadn't trained me nearly as hard as normal, but in reality he hardly did anything today.

"It's a festival, Chess. Go out, meet people. Talk to some girls." He winked at me as he put his sword on his back.

I didn't answer as he began walking to Vale, but instead followed him in silence. I didn't really pay attention to where we were going, instead wondering what was going to happen next.

Were they finally going to choose a replacement champion Even though I knew it couldn't and wouldn't be me, part of me still itched with hope. Ever since I'd learned about Autumn I'd wanted her powers. Her strength. The way we needed her around.

"Uncle Qrow!" A voice shouted at us as we were crossing through Beacon's courtyard.

I turned to see who it was as a girl with long blond hair and pale gray eyes tackle-hugged Qrow.

"Ruby told me she saw you, but I didn't believe her!" Qrow laughed at the girl.

"It's good to see you too, Yang."

"Yang?" I spoke up in shock as the girl turned to face me.

"Chessie?" Her face broke in to a large smile and she crushed me in a hug. This was Yang?

It had been 5 years since I'd seen Yang. We were basically the same age, as she was a year younger than me but she'd always been a little girl, even if she was the closest thing I'd had to a best friend. She'd always been shorter and weaker than me, but now she was taller than me. And just from her hug I could tell she was much stronger now.

"Well look at that! You're taller than Chess now!" Qrow laughed as blood rushed to my cheeks and Yang released me.

"Yeah, finally." She laughed and leaned in to my ear, holding a hand up to keep Qrow from seeing and hearing what she said. "I want a match with you before you two disappear again."

I smiled mischievously. "You're on."

Qrow narrowed his eyes, before shrugging. "Hey, you two should come hang out with me and Ruby at our room for a bit. My match isn't until tomorrow morning."

Next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor of Ruby and Yang's room with them and Qrow as they all took turns switching out and playing a video game. The three of them began squabbling over the game, and once it was Ruby's turn Yang came and sat next to me against the wall behind them.

"It's been a while, huh?" She asked calmly, so as not to draw attention from Ruby or Qrow, though it would've been hard with how loud Ruby was being.

"Yeah. It's been what? 5 years? You barely came to my shoulders." I teased and smirked, lightly shoving Yang's shoulder.

"Yeah, and now you barely reach _mine_." Which, for the record, was _not_ true. I definitely _at least_ reached her chin. I rolled my eyes at her and we laughed for a moment, before we calmly sat in silence and enjoyed the next few moments. That was the best thing about Yang, she didn't let silence freak her out.

"So, you're being careful on your missions with Qrow, right?" I looked at her in confusion, but she wouldn't look at me and instead opted for watching her family.

"I mean, as careful as you can be, I guess." I finally answered. She nodded in response, before standing up and switching out with Ruby. However, Ruby opted for sitting on her bed instead of next to me.

A few minutes later Qrow beat Yang, currently undefeated in whatever game they were playing.

"So, did you two get in trouble with Ozpin?" Ruby asked teasingly.

"Chess? Get in trouble with Ozpin? I'd pay to see that happen." Qrow laughed and looked back at me, before seeing my look of confusion. "Oh, come on! You're his golden child!"

"I sense someone's jealous." I chuckled and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"As if!" Qrow huffed. "But no, me and Oz go way back. We're cool."

"Cool for an old guy." Yang teased.

"Not funny." Qrow got suddenly defensive. I scoffed and made eye contact with Yang, who scoffed in return. Qrow watched our exchange and groaned. "I forgot how much of a pain the two of you together could be."

"Hey, so… what're you guys doing here anyway?" Ruby broke in. "I thought Dad said you'd be on a mission for like… ever."

I looked at my feet calmly, not wanting to answer. Thankfully, Qrow responded almost immediately.

"Well a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible." His tone said it all. End of story.

"Yeah, I get that. We're pretty much pros too." I laughed a short and loud scoff without meaning to, earning a warning look from Qrow.

"Oh really?" He asked calmly, looking away from me and back to the game.

"Psh, yeah. You should read the news sometime. We totally saved Vale while you were gone." Yang responded.

" _Saved_?" I couldn't stop myself anymore. "The way I heard it, Vale was attacked by Grim after you _almost_ stopped a train."

"We helped take down Roman Torchwick! Crime's been down ever since. _Basically_ a bounty mission."

"You're only acting like real huntresses." I snarled, standing up. "You aren't thinking like one, though. Four girls, in training, who can't do anything by themselves trying to end all crime in Vale? Sounds like cake to me."

"Chess." Qrow tried to intervene. I stopped and looked at him. He sat there calmly, watching me. Watching through me. Analyzing me like he'd always been able to do. I closed my eyes and clenched my firsts, before throwing the door open and stalking out.

I made it out of the building before I looked up and found Qrow leaning against the wall of a building in front of me, waiting for me. I sighed before walking to him and stopping in front of him.

"What was that about?" He was calm, which was both surprising and unsurprising.

"They treat all of this like a joke." I had to try really hard to keep from yelling. "They treat it like it's a game, like whoever does the best will get to join the varsity team, and the worst that can happen is they don't make the team."

"They're kids, Chess. They don't know any different."

"I'm basically the same age as them!"

"You're not a kid." Qrow raised his voice and stood up straight in front of me. His tone got serious, which he only does to me when he's trying to get something through to me. "I really wish you'd stop listening to people who call you that. You lost your right to be a kid three years ago when you saw someone die for the first time."

I looked away from him and towards the slowly setting sun.

"Listen. If you're bitter or something you've got to get over it. They're still kids. You're not. They train at an academy. You train in the field. That's it. That's the hands you were both dealt, and those are the hands you have to play. There's nothing wrong with either scenario, Chess."

I looked away from the sun to Qrow, who was looking at me with calm eyes. There was something slightly off about them, however. Was it sadness? I didn't know, but whatever it was threw me off slightly.

Ever since I'd been taken on by Qrow we'd grown extremely close. He'd quickly become both an older brother and a father figure for me. I could talk to him about anything and everything with only minimal teasing.

"Alright." I sighed, and my shoulder dropped as the tension left my body.

"Get up, Chess." Qrow gently nudged me awake. I groaned and rolled over, turning my back to him.

I heard Qrow stalk away, and silently sighed in relief. We really _were_ on vacation. A few minutes later I heard him walk back in and stand behind me. I prepared myself for him to bother me again.

What I did not prepare for, however, was him throwing a bucket of ice cold water on me. I screamed and jumped out of bed, missing my footing, and crashing to the ground. Qrow stood on the opposite side of my bed, howling in hysterics.

"We might be on vacation, Chessie-boy, but that doesn't mean you get to ignore me." He laughed as he threw my clothes at me. I groaned and went to the bathroom, took a shower, got dressed, and returned to the room.

Qrow had already stripped the bed and gotten new sheets and pillows from the inkeep.

"The innkeeper didn't seem pleased when I told her I got her sheets wet by throwing a bucket of water on an unsuspecting teenager." Qrow shrugged.

"If you think you're getting away with it then you're wrong, old man." I smirked as I started putting my gloves on.

"Alright, alright. C'mon, we're going to watch Yang and Weiss' fight this morning."

We left the inn and met up with Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and their teammate Blake, and headed for the arena.

"You're a faunus?" The new girl, Blake, asked me. She had long, black hair and wore almost nothing but black clothes, including a black bow on her head, and had bright, yellow eyes. I smirked, already drawing conclusions in my head.

"Yeah." I leaned in to whisper in to her ear. "You know, the ribbon doesn't really cover them up." I brought my tail up to flick her shoulder and winked at her as we reached the arena, moving forward in the group.

Black, Ruby, and Qrow wished Yang and Weiss good luck, and we separated. I ended up sitting on the end of the group, next to Qrow, with Ruby in between him and Blake sitting on the far side of her.

Yang and Weiss walked in to the arena, along with a guy that was dressed fancy and carried a trumpet and a girl in bright clothing on skates. I couldn't hear what was said, but the girl was obviously annoying Yang, which would only end badly for her.

The fight started and trumpet guy immediately bombarded them with a loud note. The waves were amplified and caused them to be unable to move for a moment. Weiss used her magic to plant herself in place as the girl hit Yang, knocking her away and splitting the pairs up. Trumpet vs. Weiss and Skates vs. Yang.

Yang had a hard time trying to catch the girl, only getting annoyed as time went on. Weiss couldn't break through Trumpet's sound waves hardly at all. She managed to once when she used her magic sigils to surround him, until he revealed his semblance, "Killer Quartet."

His semblance allowed him to make three copies of himself. It was now 4v1 for Weiss. It didn't look good. As quickly as he made them, once he used a blast from his 4 trumpets to knock Weiss to the ground he brought them all back in.

Meanwhile Yang was angry enough that her eyes were bright red. Trumpet brought his Killer Quartet out and turned to Yang, and I got real antsy. This was about to get _very_ bad. However, since part of the field was a lava ring, Weiss managed to knock Trumpet down in to a steam vent with her for a double knock out.

Except, Trumpet still stood up. Weak, but still up, and Weiss was out. Now it was 2v1. Yang went on the defensive. Trumpet used his sound waves to amplify Skates' speed, making it hard for Yang to catch her as Skates went on the offensive.

Yang managed to lose Skates for a second and seemed to be in trouble as Killer Quartet caught her in the air with sound waves, but used the momentum from her gun to reach him, cover the end of his trumpet, and shoot through it, knocking him out of the fight.

Now it was 1v1.

Skates caused her own end, tripping over a crater and being shot in the air by a water geyser. Yang shot her while she was in the air, knocking her out and giving Team RWBY the win.

I looked over and saw that Ruby and Blake had disappeared. Qrow was smiling proudly at his niece, and I looked back to find that all of Team RWBY was there, checking to make sure Weiss was okay. Qrow quickly stood up, and I jumped out of my seat and followed him out of the arena.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep up. I didn't receive an answer but once I caught up he didn't try to lose me so I figured I was allowed to go wherever we were going.

I realized we were heading to Ozpin's office as we, well, got in the elevator to go there. Qrow strolled towards Ozpin's desk as the elevator doors opened. Ozpin was turned to face out the large glass clock that overlooked Beacon, his back to us.

"You know he's making you look like a fool." Qrow said as he strolled closer to Ozpin's desk.

"His heart is in the right place. He's just… misguided." Ozpin answered, his right hand flourishing in the air as his head leaned on his left fist.

"Sometimes I'm not even sure he has a heart." Qrow responded. There was a pause for a few moments, during which I moved to stand next to Ozpin's desk and look out of the clock. From here the school was beautiful, the architecture absolutely stunning.

"Wow…." I gasped quietly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ozpin glance at me and smile.

"So, have you chosen your guardian yet?" Qrow returned back to the reason we were here, and I was snapped out of my trance. A lump formed in my throat and I quickly swallowed it as Ozpin turned his chair around to face Qrow.

"Maidens choose themselves. I simply believe I found the right candidate. Ever since the day I first met her I had a feeling she would be the one." He folded his hands on his desk in front of himself. "She's strong, intelligent, caring, but most importantly: she's ready." Ozpin met Qrow's eyes, and I wondered if Qrow knew something I didn't.

The elevator doors suddenly opened, and I looked up and pass Qrow to see who was entering. I found Pyrrha Nikos standing in the elevator. She had her right hand gripping her left elbow as she stepped in to the room. I blinked in shock, and looked to Ozpin, then back at her. Was this his new champion?


	3. Chapter 3

Volume 1, Chapter 3: O Fair Maiden

"Ms. Nikos, thank you for joining us." Ozpin stood up and moved to the other side of his desk, and pulled out a chair. "Please, take a seat. Some of the things we're about to tell you may come as a, shock."

I watched as Pyrrha hesitated for a moment, but quickly moved across the room and to the seat. As she crossed the room she took turns look from Qrow to me in confusion, most likely just because she didn't know who we were.

"Of course, where are my manners?" Ozpin chuckled lightly as he returned to his seat and Pyrrha took hers. "These are Qrow and Cheshmire. Qrow is a professional huntsman who is one of my most trusted allies, and Cheshmire is his apprentice." I nodded as Pyrrha looked at me and she nodded in return.

There was a moment of silence as everyone scrutinized each other. "Congratulations on your team winning the second round." Ozpin finally broke the silence, and Pyrrha smiled lightly as if thankful for the conversation.

"Thank you, Mr. Ozpin. I'm excited to be fighting in the final round." Her voice was smoother than I expected it to be.

"Well it comes as no surprise that they've chosen you to move on to the final round of the tournament." Ozpin nodded multiple times with a light smile on his lips. "Your performance has been exemplary."

"Thank you, Professor, but I never would have made it this far without my teammates."

"Personally I think it's the other way around." Qrow just had to chime in, like always.

Pyrrha turned back in her chair to face Qrow, a confused look on her face, before turning back to face Ozpin.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why have you called me here?" She looked worried, but also ready to face whatever was coming her way. A true warrior.

"What is your favorite fairy tale, Ms. Nikos?" Ozpin asked as he leaned back in his seat, folding his hands in his lap.

"I'm sorry?"

"Fairy tales. Stories from your childhood. Surely you must remember some of them."

"Well…" Pyrrha took a moment to think before responding. "There's the tale of the two brothers, The Shallow Sea, the girl in the tower-"

"What about the story of the seasons?" Ozpin cut her off, knowing she wasn't going in the direction he wanted her to.

"Oh of course! A callous old man who refuses to leave his home is visited by four travelling sisters." She took a moment to pause to breath and I decided to keep things moving.

"The first understands his reclusive nature and urges him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate." The story flowed in to my memory and off my tongue without hesitation or conflict. I'd been told this story a million times since I was little. Ozpin had made sure that this story would always be ingrained in my memory.

"The second brings him fruits and flowers, tending to his crops and revitalizing his garden." Pyrrha looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and Ozpin had a small smile as his gaze switched from Pyrrha to me as we told the story.

"The third warms the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him." I closed my eyes and imagined myself in a field on a warm summer's day, feeling the heat warm my skin.

"And the fourth and final sister begs him to look at all he has and be thankful." Pyrrha finished as I opened my eyes and came back to reality.

"In return for their kindness the man grants the maidens incredible powers so that they may continue to help other all around the world. They graciously accept and promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant until the end of days." I ended with my voice barely above a whisper.

"Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The Four Maidens." Pyrrha ended. "My mother loves that story."

"Would you believe me if I told you that one's been around since I was a boy?" Ozpin laughed lightly.

"You're not _that_ old, Professor." Pyrrha scoffed with a lighthearted laugh.

"Well," He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, and I knew it was coming, "would you believe me if I told you it was true?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock and she laughed nervously. "I beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you that there were four maidens existing in this world that could wield such tremendous power without Dust."

"You mean like a semblance?"

"Like magic."

"I-" Pyrrha shook her head and looked at her hands in confusion.

"Yeah, first time hearing it's pretty crazy." Qrow said suddenly.

Pyrrha turned to face Qrow as he spoke, before turning back to Ozpin and looking at me. "You're serious?" A few moments passed and nobody told her otherwise.

Ozpin's face and tone became extremely serious. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No." Pyrrha swallowed. "Why, why are you telling me this?"

Ozpin looked at Qrow, who nodded his head as they made eye contact. Ozpin nodded, closed his eyes, and then looked back at Pyrrha.

"We're telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are next in line to receive the Fall maiden's powers."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock and she leaned against the back of her seat. Then something seemed to register in her eyes.

"We?"

As if on cue, the elevator doors pinged open and Ironwood and Goodwitch walked in to the room.

"Sorry we're late." Ironwood strode in as if he owned the place, and I had to bite my tongue from saying something sarcastic. Ironwood had always rubbed me wrong, and was doing so now more than ever.

"Wait." Pyrrha shook her head in shock. "What is this? Who are you?" She asked Ozpin, looking betrayed.

"You know who we are." Mrs. Goodwitch answered calmly. "We're still the same teachers and headmasters you met when you arrived at Beacon."

"'Cept we've got a little part time job." Qrow added.

"We are the protectors of this world." Ironwood's turn. It was like they'd rehearsed this or something.

"And we need your help." Ozpin was no longer firm, but instead he looked pleading.

The next thing I knew I was standing in front of the elevator alone with Pyrrha. The other four had already taken the elevator, going somewhere and telling us to meet up with them. We were currently waiting for them to get wherever they were going so that the elevator could come back up to us and take us there.

"So are you here to make sure I come with you?" Pyrrha asked both meekly and somewhat defensively.

"Pyrrha, if you were to run right now I wouldn't stop you." I didn't look at her, I felt she needed a conversation with no eye contact. "However, the fact that Ozpin believes you will be the next maiden says something about you, and I know you won't run."

"So it's true?"

"Ozpin first told me the story of the Four Maidens when I was four. He told me the story every time the seasons changed from then on until I was 11 and apprenticed to Qrow. 3 years ago I watched someone die in front of me for the first time in my life, and that was when Qrow and Ozpin sat me down in this very office. Ozpin asked me if I remembered the story, and of course I did. Then he told me what he told you.

"At first I didn't believe him either. Honestly, I didn't believe him until not that long ago. You'll see soon what happened that changed my mind and made me believe him." I turned my head to look at Pyrrha just in time as she looked up at me.

"I know you're confused, and probably scared too. But Pyrrha, everything will be okay. And if you do decide to believe us, and you do become the Fall Maiden, I will do everything in my power to protect you, even if that means sacrificing myself."

Pyrrha looked away as the elevator opened for us. I wasn't sure if what I had said had helped or not, but I could only hope that it did. We stepped in to the elevator and waited for a moment until the doors closed and we began travelling down.

The doors opened up and we stepped in to a long, fancy corridor. The adults were standing there, calmly waiting for us.

"Where are we?" Pyrrha asked, looking around.

"The vault, under the school." Ozpin answered as he began leading us down the long hallway.

Mrs. Goodwitch and Pyrrha began talking, and I tuned out for part of it, but tuned in for some of it as I realized she was explaining more of what was going on to Pyrrha.

"When a maiden dies her power leaves and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost and that no individual can hold the power forever." Goodwitch explained as we travelled what felt like the marathon long hallway.

"So, how does the power choose?"

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow muttered.

"Qrow!" Goodwitch began to scold him, and I wondered if they'd known each other longer than this group's formation.

"Hey don't get mad at me because I'm right."

"The powers can only be transferred to women." I decided to answer Pyrrha's question for them, instead of making her listen to them argue. I realized that my voice was filled with jealousy, but I couldn't help it. Qrow looked back at me and raised an eyebrow at me. I narrowed my eyes in a 'Go to hell' look, and he shrugged and turned back around.

"We also know that the person that was in the maiden's last thoughts are the first candidates to receive the powers." I continued.

"Unless it's a dude, or some old hag. Then the power goes to someone random and our jobs get a lot harder." Qrow added in.

"Why are you telling me this now? Why not wait until I've graduated?" she asked.

"Honestly?" Qrow sighed, he was tired. "We've run out of time. I don't know if you've noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high. Grimm are growing stronger, more prevalent. And it's not going to be much longer before this peace we've all been enjoying so much goes out the window."

"You're not talking about war?" Pyrrha looked scared.

"Not a war between nations." Ironwood calmly reassured her.

"We can fill you in on the details once we know you're with us. For now all you need to know is one of the maidens was attacked and for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen." Qrow explained.

The hallway dumped us in to a dark room, lit only by the machinery of what looked like two metal coffins with windows around the spot where the person's face would be. One of the machines was angled in a standing position, and a girl with light brown hair was inside, her eyes closed. She had a mangled scar around her left eye, and I looked away. I couldn't look at her anymore.

"Is that?" Pyrrha began but didn't finish. Ozpin sighed.

"The current Fall maiden." He looked at the girl calmly. "Amber."

"She's still alive." Pyrrha's voice was hardly above a whisper.

"For now." Ironwood confirmed. "We're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable, but there is a lot about this situation that is unprecedented."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we don't know what will happen if…. When she passes." Ironwood explained.

"Won't her power just transfer to the next host?" I turned my back to Amber's body, but stayed with everyone still.

"Look who's been listening! She is smart." Qrow chimed in.

"Normally, yes." I answered Pyrrha. "But this is a complicated matter. It's not uncommon for the thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker. Plus, we've never had a maiden who has had some of their power stolen." I sighed and looked at my feet. "For all we know it could seek out its other half."

"Her assailant." Pyrrha concluded.

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin said.

There was a long period of silence. I heard footsteps and turned to watch Pyrrha walk towards Amber, and place her palm on the window. She stood there for a moment and sighed.

"If all of this is true then why keep it a secret?" She turned to face all of us, her stance and posture defensive. "If this girl is so important, if we're truly on the brink of war, then why not tell everyone?"

"From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge." Goodwitch calmly answered.

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha was more confused now then ever.

"How do you think the stories and fairy tales get started?" Qrow asked, pulling out and opening his flask. "Even the craziest ones get started somewhere."

"Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength." Goodwitch continued on.

"And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the type of people you'd want to have unimaginable power." It was Qrows turn to fill in blanks.

"And so this brotherhood chose to remove the maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away in to legend." Ironwood was calm the entire time, not a single blink or bead of sweat out of the normal.

"The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history, religion." Goodwitch continued.

"No one would want to believe us. It'd cause an uproar."

"It'd cause a panic," Ozpin interrupted Ironwood "and we all know what that would bring clawing to our kingdoms' walls. Which is why we would like to-"

"I'll do it." I stopped breathing. I think my heart may have temporarily stopped beating as well. I was shocked. She decided that so quick, without hesitation.

"If you believe this will help humanity then I will become your Fall Maiden." Everyone looked at each other, exchanging worried looks.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Now Pyrrha was frustrated. Why weren't we thanking her? Explaining more?

"It is," Ozpin began "but I'm afraid it's not that simple. Given Amber's condition you won't be able to inherit her powers naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

I refused to give him a chance to explain, to twist words in to her head. "Basically," I chimed in "he uses that machine she's in to take her aura and put it in to someone else."

Pyrrha looked at me in shock, and looked at Ironwood. "That's wrong."

"The feeling is mutual." Goodwitch said, looking at Ironwood out of the side of her eye. "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"And these are desperate times. We can't give you Amber's powers but we can give you what they are bound to." Ironwood was finally able to speak, glaring at Goodwitch and myself.

"Her Aura." Pyrrha sighed.

"Her life would become intertwined with yours." Ozpin spoke soothingly. "The question is-"

"What's that gonna do to you?" Qrow asked.

Pyrrha looked from them and straight at me. I met her gaze unflinchingly. We stared at each other for what felt like a long time. I didn't know what she wanted from me, but I desperately wanted to give it to her. She looked confused and scared. Hell, who wouldn't be?

"You have an important decision ahead of you, Ms. Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work, and there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does." Ozpin was almost remorseful, but he still spoke calmly and with authority. "I advise you to take time to think on this matter. But understand that before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

"The assailant that attacked the Fall Maiden has made their first move, and there's no telling when there next move will be." Ozpin ended.

With that, we began to leave the Vault. I stood in front of Amber as they all left, staring at her unmoving body. I placed my hand on the glass and sighed.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. But it was neither Ozpin nor Qrow's, whose hands I knew like the back of my own. I looked over my shoulder to find Pyrrha's bright green eyes looking at me, sorrow swimming through them. I looked pass her to see that the adults had stopped a few yards in the hallway and were watching us.

"I'm not sure what happened between you two, but whatever it was I'm sorry." Pyrrha said quietly, so that they couldn't hear us.

I turned and looked back at Amber, memories flooding my head and causing a searing, blinding pain to burst in to my head. I couldn't see anything but bright white. I screamed and grabbed my head, crumbling to my knees. I heard Pyrrha gasp, and footsteps as the adults ran towards us.

Qrow reached me first, and I felt him kneeling in front of me.

"Kid? Kid, what's wrong?" I groaned as I leaned my head on the cold marble floor. The blinding pain dulled to a consistent throbbing, and I opened my eyes to find that I could see again.

"I tried to remember their faces again." I explained, looking up in to Qrow's eyes. His shocked, scared look quickly changed to one of understanding, and he calmed down.

"Faces?" Pyrrha asked. I looked at her and shook my head, giving her a look that said 'I'll explain later.'

With Qrow's help, I got to my feet and began walking down the hallway. Ozpin walked on the other side of me and Ironwood and Goodwitch in front of us, Pyrrha behind us. When we reached the elevator I managed to convince Qrow that I could stand by myself, and once again the adults left me and Pyrrha to ride it ourselves. Once they were gone I looked at Pyrrha.

"I'm the reason that Amber's powers were stolen." Pyrrha blinked and took a shocked step away from me. After a moment she saw the look of remorse and regret on my face, and stood up straight again. She kept watching me, waiting for an explanation.

"Qrow and I were on a mission. We were gathering intel on The White Fang. What they wanted, what they were doing. Eventually we caught wind that someone was interested in the Fall Maiden, so we started tracking Amber down.

"I don't quite remember how we found out she was in immediate danger, but when we did I didn't stop tailing her. We'd found her trail we just needed to catch up." I looked at my feet. "I left Qrow in the dust. I just took off. It was like I couldn't stop myself.

"When I finally found Amber she was in the middle of a fight with three assailants. They weren't winning necessarily but she was still outnumbered and she was winded. I joined the fight, and ultimately cost Amber her life."

"What happened?" Pyrrha whispered. Her voice was full of sorrow and pity. I couldn't take it.

"I fought alongside Amber for a bit, but ultimately I got caught and was used as a distraction and bait. I watched as they sucked Amber of her power. That's the last thing I remember. Qrow said he showed up in time to find them sucking Amber's powers and to stop them, and that the other two were doing something to me. Once he stopped the one messing with Amber they all fled immediately, he said he didn't exactly get a good look at all of them.

"I don't know what those two did to me before Qrow showed up. But whenever I think about that night I can't picture any of the assailants. I can see Amber clear as day but them? Nothing. And when I try to think about them and picture their faces my head starts hurting really bad. That's why I screamed earlier."

"Cheshmire, you know none of that's your fault, right?" Pyrrha asked after a moment of silence.

"How is it not my fault? If I had trained harder, been more prepared, I could've stopped them. I could've done what I'm supposed to do- protect the maidens and mankind."

"You tried your best-"

"Best isn't good enough out there, Pyrrha." I cut her off as the elevator doors opened, and stalked inside. We rode the elevator in silence. Once we reached the ground level we walked out and joined everyone else.

"It looks like it's about time for the final round." Ozpin said, looking at his watch. He looked up at Pyrrha and smiled lightly. "Good luck, Ms. Nikos."

She nodded and left us. Ironwood and Goodwitch turned to head that way as well, and left Ozpin, Qrow, and myself standing there. Qrow and Ozpin made eye contact, before Qrow nodded at him.

"I'll save you a seat, Chess." I watched him leave, wondering what Ozpin wanted to talk to me about. A long time passed between us in silence, before Ozpin turned to head towards the arena.

"Walk with me, Cheshmire." I followed after him without question, shoving my hands in my pockets.

"How are you enjoying Vale so far?"

"It's clean." That was the first thing that came to my head? Literally the only thing I could think to say to my idol? What an idiot.

Ozpin laughed and nodded. "Yes, I guess it is quite clean." He glanced over at me and placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze as we walked. "Chess, I am so, _so_ proud of the young man you've become."

I looked at him in shock. He'd said it before, but it'd been so long since I'd seen him and so long since I'd heard it from him. I blinked tears away and swallowed a lump in my throat.

"I know it's been hard. I know I haven't been able to see or help you much lately, and I'm sorry for that. I want you to know that I don't blame you at all for what happened to Amber. In fact, I'm quite proud of the initiative you took.

"Qrow told me about how you took off and left him. While it was reckless and honestly very stupid to go after potentially extremely strong assailants by yourself without your master, it took a lot of guts. Guts that I don't think many people in this world have.

"Yes, we lost our maiden. But you gave it your all. You put your life on the line, and that's the important thing to take from that loss."

"I understand that you're trying to help. I really do. But honestly? I still feel awful. I still feel like there should have been something, _anything_ that I could have done to save her."

"And we will all have moments like that in our lives. For me I wonder if maybe I'd moved a bit faster or talked a bit slower or listened a bit more than maybe I could have saved my teammate's life. For you it's the fall maiden. We will all have moments in our lives that we'll replay through our heads a million times. You just have to learn to accept what happened, and to learn from it."

Ozpin stopped moving and turned to face me, looking me in my eyes.

"I see a brilliant young man when I look at you, Cheshmire. A man willing to do anything to protect those he loves and mankind itself. A man so selfless as to live the life you have and fall in a line without protest. Your life hasn't been easy, and I'm so sorry for that, but I'm so extremely proud that you haven't let it corrupt you."

Before I knew what was happening Ozpin had me wrapped in his arms in an embrace. I was shocked, and I didn't move. By the time he released me I felt a tear fall down my cheek, and quickly brought my hand up to wipe it away. Ozpin smiled at me, and I smiled back at him.

"Now, go support your best friend. Have a good night and a good time, and I'll see you around soon." Ozpin turned and began to head to a different part of the arena than I was. "Oh, and one last thing." He turned to face me. "If you go to the ballroom at Beacon there's something there that I'm sure you'd enjoy spending some time with."

With that he was gone, leaving me both confused and dazed. I stood there for a moment, before hearing the crowd cheering. Figuring that either a match was starting or about to, I quickly turned and headed in to the arena, looking through the crowd for my seat.

Eventually I found Qrow sitting next to Ruby, Blake, and Weiss and quickly moved to take my seat. Qrow looked at me, saw that I was rubbing my eyes to remove any traces of tears or the possibility of them, and smirked to himself.

"You got something to say?" I growled, and Qrow scoffed.

"Nothing at all, Chessie-boy."

A resounding _ding_ echoed across the arena and I looked to find that they were randomizing the first fight. The first fighter was a kid gray hair and wearing a light gray vest over a dark gray shirt. His name was Mercury Black. I groaned and grabbed my head as a dull throbbing began, but tried to ignore it as the second _ding_ shot across the arena and Yang's picture showed up on the screen.

The remaining challengers cleared the stage and once the fight started the first thing that happened was that Yang punched towards Mercury but he quickly jumped in the air and spun around and met her fist with his foot. Neither of them wavered, meaning his kick had to have been strong to withstand Yang's punch and match it.

They traded punches and kicks. The Mercury kid was fast, really fast. At one point Yang managed to knock him off the stage but as he was midair he shot bullets from the soles of his shoes and used to momentum to propel him back on the stage.

Kicks and punches later he shot bullets from the sole of one of his shoes in rapid fire succession, having them float in the air around him before becoming homing missiles and bombarding Yang. He walked calmly away, as if knowing that Yang had lost.

I gripped the armrests of my chair tightly. No way, no _way_ was Yang going to be beat that easily. Sure enough the smoke cleared and there she was, eyes bright red. She was mad, and things were about to get really interesting.

Mercury charged towards her, I guess thinking that he would finish her off. However Yang blocked his kicks and began retaliating, landing some of the hardest hitting punches I've ever seen. Eventually, she beat him. He was done.

The crowd erupted in cheers, Ruby probably the loudest out of all of them. Yang held her fists in the air in victory, before striding across the arena to leave. However, as she was passing Mercury she stopped, turned, and punched his leg as hard as possible, breaking it.

I jumped out of my seat in shock as he began screaming and soldiers surrounded her. What just happened? There was no way Yang would ever do something like that, not the Yang I knew.

The rest of the night was a blur of activity. Yang was quickly whisked away by a large patrol of soldiers, Mercury was taken away on stretchers, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake all quickly went to their room. I tried to join them but the soldiers posted at their room wouldn't allow me. I was left with little choice but to join Qrow back at the inn.

However, when I walked inside he wasn't there. I sighed and took the sheets that were sitting on my bed and made it up, as Qrow hadn't been any help in that department. I sat on my bed for a few moments, trying to decide if I was tired enough to sleep or not.

About half an hour passed and I hadn't moved or become more tired, and decided that I wouldn't fall asleep. I left the inn and went back to Beacon, deciding to look for the ballroom. It was silent on Beacon's grounds. It didn't even feel like anyone was breathing.

It took me forever to find the ballroom since I couldn't even find a single other person to ask for help, but eventually I found it. It was a large room that was basically empty save for the stacks of tables and chairs pushed against the wall and the large grand piano sitting in the middle of the room, covered with a large black cloth cover.

The second I saw it I knew this is what Ozpin had been telling me about earlier. Little known fact: when I was little I was obsessed with music and Ozpin taught me how to play the piano. I've loved it ever since.

I crossed the room to the piano and took the cover off in one fluid motion, marveling in the bright, glossy black paint that reflected my face back at me. I sat at the bench in front of the piano and looked at the keys in apprehension. I hadn't had the opportunity to touch a piano in at least a year or two.

I held my hands out and hovered over the keys, before finally letting them drop and playing a few chords. After I got the nervous jitters out, my hands glided across the keys without question. I felt like I was home, safe. This was certain, while nothing else in the world right now was.

I'm not sure how long I'd been playing before she had walked in, or even how I'd missed her.

"I didn't know you played piano." I jumped in shock and turned around to find Blake standing a few feet behind me, watching me play.

She looked scared, and her eyes were red as if she'd been crying.

"Are you crying?" I asked, surprisingly worried about her.

"Not anymore." She answered, looking away but not moving. We stayed there in silence for a few moments, but it wasn't awkward.

"Do you play?" I asked, motioning to the piano.

"No, but a friend of mine used to a long time ago. He used to play for me when I was upset to calm me down."

I looked at her and saw how scared and upset she was. I'm not sure why but touched me in a way I didn't know it would. I motioned for her to join me, and she sat on the ground next to me, her back against the leg of the piano.

"There's a day when all hearts will be broken. When a shadow will cast out the light. And our eyes cry a million tears, help won't arrive." I began singing and playing a song I'd known for the longest time that had always managed to calm me down whenever I was having a bad day or night.

I watched as Blake closed her eyes and her breathing leveled out as I played and sung. Her face became calm and even, and once I was finished singing the rest of it I realized she'd fallen asleep.

"Blake." I whispered at first, brushing her shoulder, and then stopped. I didn't want to wake her, but I knew she needed to sleep somewhere that wasn't against the uncomfortable leg of a grand piano.

I stood up and placed the cover back over the piano, vowing to come back before we left Vale to play some more. I took my vest off and then unbuttoned my shirt, taking it off and covering Blake with it as best as I could. I then bent down in front of her and carefully and smoothly picked her up in my arms.

I'm not sure why I just assumed I wouldn't be able to take her back to her room. Thinking about it now I'm almost positive the soldiers would have allowed me to put her in bed and then leave, but at the time I'd assumed that they wouldn't and had instead walked all the way to the inn with her in my arms.

I reached the room and somehow managed to get in without waking her up, which surprised me more than anything, and found that Qrow was still not back. I put Blake in my bed, taking my shirt off of her and removing her shoes and bow but nothing else, and covering her with the blanket. She didn't even groan. Man she was a heavy sleeper.

Without even considering taking Qrow's bed, as I knew he'd only push me out of it when he finally did show up, I did what I'd been doing for years now out in the field. I grabbed my bag and tossed it on the floor next to the bed Blake was sleeping on, and pulled out a raggedy blanket from inside of it. I took my pants off and folded them along with my shirt and vest, and placed them in a neat stack next to where I was going to sleep on the floor.

I took one last look at Blake to make sure she was still asleep, before laying on the carpeted floor, placing my head on the bag that had been my pillow for years now, and covering myself in my old, warm blanket.

It didn't even feel like two seconds before I was asleep.

 **A/N:** Song at the end: I May Fall (feat. Casey Lee Williams) by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams (Go listen to it it's super good)


	4. Chapter 4

Volume 1, Chapter 4: Failure

I woke up on my own for once, which in itself was odd. I wondered vaguely why I was on the floor, before remembering the events that had transpired last night. I stood up quietly, not sure if Blake was still asleep or not. I looked over the edge of my bed and found it empty, the sheets ruffled to show that someone had indeed been there. Her clothes were gone as well.

"She left a few hours ago." I finished standing up and began getting dressed as Qrow said something from his bed.

"And when did you get in?" I asked as I began buttoning my shirt up.

"Basically as she was leaving." He was stretched out on his bed, letting the sun from the window wash over him. "So, Chess. You want to tell me why there was a girl in your bed?" He asked teasingly, looking at me like some sort of teenager.

"As if, Qrow." I answered, already knowing what was running through his head. "She fell asleep. That's all that happened."

"If you say so, but she looked mighty flustered when she woke up and found out where she was. I'm just surprised you slept through it."

"When you live and travel with a drunk you tend to filter unimportant things out while you sleep." I slid in to my pants and began buttoning my vest up before realizing that I didn't even know where I was going.

Then I remembered what Yang had done last night. What had happened to her? Had they arrested her? Disqualified her? I sat down on my bed and looked over at Qrow.

"So what's happening today? Any news from Yang yet?" He looked from a spot on the ceiling he'd been staring at to me.

"I haven't heard anything yet. If I had to guess I'd say that's why Blake left so early. Ironwood is probably interrogating all of them right now if he hasn't finished yet."

"Of course Ironwood would be the one to do it." I muttered.

"As much as I don't like it he is the General. This is his job." Qrow pushed himself in to more of a sitting position and used the remote by his bed to turn the tv on to the news.

It was flooded with reports of grim activity. I was instantly locked on to the tv. Where was this all happening? Goliath, Beowulf, Boarbatusks, Ursa, Death Stalkers…. All of them were shown in transit to some city, and there was a lot of them. Then, the cameramen panned over to show the city, and it was easily recognizable.

"Vale?" I shouted, spinning to glare at Qrow. "That's happening right now?"

Qrow nodded. "After what happened with Yang last night I guess there's a lot of hostility in the citizens. They started flooding towards here."

"Is that where you were all night? Fighting them?" When he nodded I growled in response. "Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't anyone get me? I could've helped!"

Qrow shrugged. "What was I supposed to do Chess? Stop fighting them to run around the city to find you? I didn't even know where to start anyway! And then I finally get a break long enough to come here just to find _a girl_ in your bed?" He was angry, but I couldn't tell if it was at me or just the situation.

"So why aren't we out there right now?" I asked.

"Ironwood is letting some of his men take care of it for a bit. They told me to rest. Plus the rest of the tournament is going to be soon, which means Pyrrha is going to run out of time. We need to be there for her answer." He was calm now, and his gaze pierced through my eyes in to my soul. " _You_ need to be there for her answer. She trusts you."

I looked out the window and at the street outside. There were people walking up and down the street like any normal day. I sighed and looked back at Qrow.

"Let's go see Yang." I said, and Qrow nodded his agreement.

"I thought you'd never suggest it."

As we walked through the city towards Beacon we passed by Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. They told us that Yang had been disqualified but so far that's all that had happened. Blake wouldn't meet my eyes, which only caused me to be confused. Did I do something wrong? I hadn't even slept in the same bed as her. They walked away and I watched Blake for a second longer before Qrow hooked my elbow and pulled me towards Beacon.

"Let it go, kid. She'll talk to you about whatever when she's ready."

We reached Beacon's housing and were outside the building that Yang's room was located in, and I noticed that their window was open.

"I'll meet you in there." I said as I quickly scampered up a tree and up the side of the building. I grabbed the windowsill and quickly pulled myself up, perching there and looking in. Yang sat on her bed, and looked both shocked and unsurprised as she watched me.

"Hey." I couldn't think of anything else to say as I slid off the sill and on to the floor in front of it.

"Hey…" Yang sighed and looked at the ground. A moment of silence passed between us.

"I know you didn't attack him." I finally said, and Yang quickly looked up at me, tears welling in her eyes.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Of course. I've known you for a while now. You'd never do something like that."

Yang stood up and crossed over to me, and as I stood up in response she grabbed me in a tight embrace, of which I returned. I felt her body quiver, and didn't know if she was crying or trying not to cry. Eventually she let me go, and rubbed her eyes and returned to her bed. I sat back down.

"Thank you, Chess." There was a knock on the door and before we could respond Qrow opened it and let himself in.

"Hey, Firecracker." He said as he closed the door and leaned his back against it.

"Hey, Qrow." Yang was calm again, but her eyes and face were full of sadness and anguish.

Qrow scoffed lightly. "So… why'd you do it?"

"You know why." Yang replied defensively. My skin prickled as I watched Qrow. Did he actually believe she would do something like that?

"All I know is that I saw you attack a helpless kid. So either you're lying, or you're crazy."

"I'm _not_ lying."

"So crazy. Got it." Qrow met my gaze, which was probably full of a lot of venom, unflinchingly.

"Who knows? Maybe I am." Yang responded, looking back down at her feet.

"And here I thought your dark haired friend and Chess were the emo ones."

"Hey!" I barked, and earned laughter from both Qrow and Yang. I looked at Yang, and then at Qrow, who winked at me. I smiled lightly and nodded my thanks to him. Of course, Qrow knew how Ruby, Yang, and I all ticked. He could make any of us laugh at least a little bit on our worst days.

"I saw my mom." Yang suddenly confessed. I blinked and looked at her, and then at Qrow who had begun to pace back and forth but had stopped to look over his shoulder at her.

"I, I was in a lot of trouble. She saved me." Her voice was faint, almost a whisper. "I got hit hard, and when I came to the person attacking me was gone. And, I thought I saw her sword, like the one of your team in dad's old picture. And then she was gone."

"You're not crazy, Yang. That was her all right." Qrow turned to face her. "Let me guess, she didn't say a word, did she?"

"How'd you know that?" Yang asked.

"I don't see my sister very often, but she does try to keep in touch. Whenever it suits her." Qrow moved to stand in front of Yang, which was indirectly also in front of me.

"Wait, you've talked to her?" Yang's eyes lit up with something. She scanned Qrow as if she was looking for something, anything. "That was real?"

"Yeah, she found me. Had a tip for my most recent assignment, and wanted me to give you a message." Wait, so our random tip on the people attacking Amber hadn't been random? It'd been Qrow's sister? Why hadn't he let me meet her?

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Yang demanded.

"I was trying to wait for the right time." Qrow shrugged. "This sure ain't it, but I guess you deserve to know." Qrow shook his head and looked at the ground, and then back up at Yang. "She wanted me to tell you that she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again."

"Wait, so she's just going to watch Yang get hurt and not do anything to stop it? Even if she's there?" I asked incredulously. What kind of mother was that? Guaranteed, my mother had dropped me on a doorstep and left me for dead, but still.

"Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. And she's dangerous." Qrow kicked my shoe as an order to shut up. "But you're a tough egg, kiddo." Qrow smiled encouragingly at Yang. "Shouldn't let this tournament thing get you down. You had a slip up, sometimes bad things just happen. I say it's time you move on."

"Move on to what?" Yang looked confused, and I was too. Move on to what? More classes? School? Training with her team again? What a monotonous lifestyle.

"Well, Raven let some info slip before she took off. If you ever want to track her down, I think I might be able to help." I watched Yang's eyes widen in shock, and the gears in her head stared spinning. I looked at Qrow questioningly.

"You know if you let her tag along with us you'd have to deal with both of us at the same time, right?" I laughed lightly, looking from him to Yang. Qrow rolled his eyes.

"I'll just dump more ice water on you to shut you up."

"Bring it, old man!" I scoffed and Qrow laughed at me, and Yang chuckled lightly in response.

"I'm not sure I could handle the headache of both of _you_ at the same time." Yang laughed. "You two really are like siblings."

"Yeah, I'm the cool older brother and he's the annoying little pipsqueak." Qrow rubbed my hair and I hissed in annoyance.

"Cut it out!"

Yang giggled at us as she looked at her feet before looking at us with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Thanks, guys. You're the best."

"Anytime, kiddo." Qrow nodded as I stood up, Yang also standing up. She didn't hesitate as she crossed over to me in a few strides, and hugged me again, though it thankfully wasn't as tight as earlier. I flicked my tail is discomfort, before finally returning the hug.

I looked at the clock on the wall, and hissed in surprise. I was running late, _really_ late. The next fight in the festival was going to be starting any minute now, and I didn't want to miss it in case it was Pyrrha's. I needed to be there for her, in case she had an answer for us.

"What's up?" Qrow asked, looking at me.

"I, uh, I gotta go. The next fight is going to start like, now." I stood on the window sill, my back to them, and turned to look over my shoulder at Yang. I smiled encouragingly. "Everything's going to be fine, Yang. I promise."

With that I leaped off the windowsill, catching a branch in the tree nearby to break my fall. I released the branch almost immediately and landed on the ground softly, before taking off towards the arena in a full sprint.

As I reached the arena I heard from the announcers that the first fight was indeed between Pyrrha and someone else. I turned the corner to head towards the seat, slowly from a sprint in to a jog, only to run headfirst in to Ruby.

We both went crashing to the ground. I groaned and stood to my feet, rubbing my head with one hand and helping Ruby up with the other.

"Ruby? What're you doing?" I asked as the pain subsided finally.

"Something's wrong, Chess. Come on!" Ruby grabbed my wrist and took off towards the seating, not bothering to explain further. And as we broke through and were able to see the fight, I knew why.

As we stood there I watched Pyrrha use her polarity semblance to stop floating blades that I could only assume were her enemy's. She then shot them flying back, and the wires that her enemy was using wrapped her enemy up, and instead of simply carrying her away, they cut straight through her.

The girl's body fell to the stadium ground, limbs detached. I was shocked. I looked closer and saw that the girl was a… a robot? What was happening? Why was Pyrrha fighting a robot for one, and what was going to happen now?

"Penny…" Ruby gasped and fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. I assumed Penny was the robot, and someone that Ruby knew.

I heard footsteps behind us, and turned to see a boy with gray hair. I blinked and looked at him as he looked from Ruby to me to the scene and back to us, a smirk on his face. It was Mercury. He turned and began walking back down the hallway that he'd come, and I didn't even wait before pursuing him.

"Hey!" I shouted as I turned the corner to face him. He stopped and turned to face me.

"Sorry, but do I know you?" He asked.

"You're the kid that Yang hurt. How are you standing?" I asked skeptically, extending the claws from my gloves. Something was really, really wrong here and I wasn't waiting to be the next victim. I needed to find out what he was up to, and then I needed to get to Pyrrha. For whatever reason they were targeting her now, and it was my job to protect her.

"This is not a tragedy." A woman's voice was suddenly over the intercom. I kept my eye on Mercury, but he only stood there, staring at me with a smirk on his face. Every inch of my body wanted to wipe that smirk off his face and get some answers out of him.

"This was not an accident." Obviously. Pyrrha of all people would never try to kill someone in a tournament, if at all. She only would to defend herself. And this showed that Yang had also been setup. Neither of them were bad people.

"This is what happens when you hand over your trust. Your safety. Your children. To men who claim to be our guardians. But are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both." The woman's voice sounded familiar, but I had no idea where I knew it from. My head began throbbing and my vision started to blur slightly. I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying desperately not to let Mercury know of the pain that was starting to rack my body. If he knew, I was done for.

"They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grim can tell a difference.

"And what, I ask you. Is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy. Yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin thought as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people to forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grim invaded its streets.

"Or perhaps, this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting Kingdom with armed forces. Honestly? I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know that the existence of peace is fragile. And the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves.

"As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you that the situation there is… equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are at the brink of war. Yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you: when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?"

My head began throbbing even more, and my vision started going dark. I groaned, I couldn't help it anymore, and grabbed my head. Mercury smirked and turned around, walking away from me as a loud siren began wailing.

"Warning: Grimm Approaching. Threat Level: 9." I didn't pay attention to anything else that happened as I watched Mercury leave, before placing my head on the cold ground to try and get my bearings. I could hear screaming as a general panic ensued, thankfully I was in a back hallway that nobody seemed to deem important enough to use to escape.

"Warning: Safety Barrier Failing." A loud screech echoed through the stadium. I sat up, the pounding in my head going away as I turned from the Mercury mystery to the crisis that lay in front of me now. I turned and left out of the hallway, entering the stadium, passing Ruby who was still sitting on the ground.

I looked in the sky over the stadium to find a Nervermore perched there, pecking and clawing away at the shield. I looked down in to the arena to find Pyrrha still there, looking at Penny's remains. A blonde kid standing with two other people was yelling at Pyrrha to move because of the Nervermore threat, and I figured they must be her team members.

Suddenly, the shield above us shattered as the Nervermore dove in to it, and the Grim bird landed in the middle of the arena, eyes fixed on Pyrrha.

Ruby moved before I did, I guess she finally came to her senses. She leaped in to the arena, grabbing one of the swords on the ground and using it to save Pyrrha from the Grim.

I blinked in confusion as my pocket vibrated, before looking and seeing that it was my phone, vibrating because Qrow was calling me.

"Yeah?" I answered. "I don't have a lot of time, Qrow."

"Where are you, the arena?"

"Yeah, there's a Nevermore here. Pyrrha and Ruby are fighting it now."

"Is there anyone else with them?"

"I think the others here are Pyrrha's team."

"Alright, I think they can handle a Nevermore. Yang, Blake, and Weiss are at the docks. The White Fang is releasing Grim in the city from there. Someone's taken over one of Ironwood's ships."

"Where are you?"

"I'm going with Goodwitch to the city to fight the Grim."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, Chess. We can handle this. I need you there, at Beacon. I need you with Pyrrha. Or the girls. Somewhere other than where I am. Short of you and Ozpin I don't really trust anyone else here."

I was already running from the arena after deciding that they could, in fact, deal with the Nevermore. I pulled the phone away from my face and shouted a short breath of frustration, before putting it back to my mouth.

"Fine, I'll help out at Beacon with the White Fang."

"Good. Alright, I'll talk to you later…. Chess?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful, okay?"

"Always am, old man. You be careful too. Don't go breaking a hip on me." I hung up and picked up the pace. I had no idea what was happening at Beacon, or anywhere else for that matter.

As I made it to the courtyard I found Blake and Weiss standing there, surrounded by Ironwood's robot soldiers, guns drawn and pointed at them. I narrowed my eyes and extended the claws on my gloves, sprinting as fast as I could and leaping in to the air behind one of them.

I extended my arm back as far as I could, before bringing it around and ripping my claws through one of the robot's necks, ripping its head off of its shoulders. I moved before the soldiers had time to react, ripping my claws through two more chests, knocking them to the ground. Thankfully the girls reacted and dropped the other ones.

"Chess." Blake said simply, looking at me with, admiration? Thanks? I didn't know, and at the moment I didn't care.

Before I could respond, we heard gunfire coming from closer to the school. I turned to find a large battalion of the robot soldiers firing at the school. Had Ironwood actually turned against us? What was going on? As much as I wanted answers, I couldn't waste time finding them.

"There's no time, let's go!" I commanded.

As we all moved forward we heard shouting from behind us. A lot of shouting. We stopped and turned to find many, _many_ members of the White Fang rushing towards us. I hissed in annoyance, trying to figure out what to do.

"I've got the robots, you two deal with them!" Weiss made the decision for me, and turned to the soldiers. I had to trust her, at least for the moment.

"Let's go, Blake!" I turned and ran towards the oncoming White Fang members, refusing to let anything happen to any of the people I cared about, new or old.

I met with a man, his sword clashing with my claws. I pivoted without stopping my momentum, knocking him off his feet. I moved my hands and grabbed his shirt, swinging him around and flinging him away and in to two other oncoming members.

I continued charging forward, throwing my feet out in front of me and falling to the ground, sliding underneath a careless one whose legs were spread wide open, and leaped in to the air as I reached the other side of him. I leaped over four of the members, kicking one of them in the back of the head and raking my claws down the chest of another as I landed. One of them landed a punch to my stomach, but I grabbed his extended arm, and without hesitating shoved my blades in to his stomach.

He grunted, and stared at me in shock, before his eyes went hazy and his body went limp. There was a small gasp of shock, and I found that Weiss and Blake had taken care of the rest of the Fang, and they were staring at me. I looked from them to the fallen man in my arms, and quickly ripped my claws out of the man's body and let it fall to the ground. Blood covered my right claws and arm.

Grim and uncontrollable robots were pouring in to the courtyard and the school grounds. I had no time to say anything to either of them. I looked at both of them intensely.

"Be careful. Both of you. If you need me, just alert my phone." I commanded, and ran pass them towards a group of Ursa.

I was slicing the head of the last Ursa off before the ground shook violently, knocking me to the ground. I looked in the air as there was a loud, bone-shaking roar, only to find the largest Grim I'd ever seen or head of flying through the air towards Beacon's tower. I could hardly breathe looking at it. My heart pounded harder than it ever had, and I could barely get to my feet for a moment. I was scared. To my core I was scared of that dragon-beast.

"Ozpin, no." I whispered, though I knew that if anyone could handle it, Ozpin could. And out of anywhere in this city I expected him to be in the tower. I gulped, deciding to put my fear aside to help him, and began running towards the tower.

I turned a corner around a building, before stopping as I heard fighting and gunshots, but the commotion sounded as if it were only two people. And one of them sounded like Blake.

"Get away from her!" That was Yang, no doubt about it, but her voice came from the other side of the building.

I turned quickly and ran to the other side of the building, wondering what was going on and hoping I'd make it in time in case something bad was happening.

As I turned the corner, I found Yang in immense anger shoot herself across the space between her and a man of the White Fang that was standing over Blake. As she soared through the air the man stepped forward quickly and pulled out his sword.

And sliced through Yang's arm.

Yang's body fell to the ground, her arm falling a few feet away. I stopped moving out of shock. My feet frozen to the ground as I stared at Yang. Yang, who only hour ago I'd made a promise to that everything was going to be okay.

The man stalked towards Yang, but Blake moved and through herself over Yang's body to protect her.

"Why must you hurt me, Blake?" The man asked. So this man and Blake had some sort of history? Why did she have history with a member of the White Fang? And someone who obviously had some sort of power?

The man raised his sword, and I roared in anger as I was finally able to move my feet.

"Leave them alone!" I shouted, walking in to the open. Blake blinked in shock, and the man stopped and turned to face me.

"And who would you be?"

"The one who's going to end you." I snarled, my eyes flashing in anger.

The man didn't respond, only held his sword out at the ready. My body shook, but not out of fear like it did when I thought about that large Grim. Out of anticipation. I was excited. I was going to get revenge on this man for what he'd done to Yang and whatever he'd done to Blake in the past.

I smiled impishly, my fangs showing and flashing in the dim lighting as I crouched on to all fours, my claws scraping across the stone ground. I shot across the ground, moving faster than I ever could on two feet.

I was halfway to the man, who was standing still, before I slowly disappeared from sight. The shock on the man's face was laughable. Out of his sight I quickly maneuvered around him, and raked my claws up the length of his back, revealing myself again.

I heard Blake gasp in shock behind me, as the man shouted in both pain and surprise. He turned and brought his sword around with him, and I brought my claws up to block him, catching it a few inches in front of my chest.

I smirked and pressed the buttons at the center of my gloves with my thumbs, shooting two bullets in to the man's chest and knocking him back in to the air. Not giving him time to react, I quickly moved forward and turned invisible again.

I moved behind and below him, kicking him in the back and shooting him in to the air as I revealed myself again. As he grunted and flew in to the air I leaped straight up after him. I reached him and brought my arm around, bringing it straight down on top of his stomach and shooting him back to the ground.

He slammed in to the ground, blinking in shock and trying to regain some sort of focus. He slowly stood up as I landed on the ground near him, and after he caught his breath he went on the offensive. I blocked multiple sword strikes, but eventually he clipped my chin with his fist, knocking me to the ground.

I grunted and quickly rolled to the side as he brought his sword down towards me, missing and striking the stone instead. I crouched down and turned invisible, watching in amusement as the man assumed I'd be striking at his back, turning to stop me. Or so he thought.

I snarled loudly from behind him now as I leaped forward, showing myself again and grabbing his shoulders as I leaped on to his back, knocking him to the ground. I pinned him down with my knee in the middle of his back, my body tingling with the wild and the excitement of the fight.

I raked my claws down his back, drawing both a lot of blood and blood curling screams from him. I grabbed his forearms with my hands, pulling them back as I stood up, replacing my knee with my foot.

"Let's see how you do without either of your arms." I snarled mercilessly, quickly pulling my body up as I stood up.

The man's shoulders snapped as they broke, and he screamed so loudly, so chillingly, that if I hadn't fought as much as I had I may have thrown up. I snarled and dropped his arms, getting off of him and kicking him so that he rolled on to his back.

I held my claw out and moved quickly to my knee, intending to sink them in to his throat. Intending to end his life.

"Chess, no! Stop!" Blake screamed. I didn't know if she'd been screaming the whole time or not. If she had, it just now finally cut through to me.

I stopped as my claw hovered barely over his throat, my breathing heavy as I realized the man had passed out from the pain. I looked over at Blake, only to find that she was looking at me in horror. Had she been that scared?

I looked at the man, wondering why she wanted me to spare him. Maybe it was something from her past. I didn't know, I didn't care. He wasn't a threat anymore. And if nobody found him he'd be dead soon enough anyway.

I stood up and moved towards Blake and Yang, retracting my claws. Blake shouted in surprise and fear, clutching Yang's body and scooting away from me. I stopped as I looked at her, realizing that it was _me_ she was looking at in horror. I blinked and felt a sharp stab in my heart.

I'd scared her that bad? All I was doing was protecting her and Yang. Saving them. I looked at the man's body, and then back to her. I gulped and stopped moving towards them and looked at the ground. I couldn't meet her eyes. Seeing the fear in them that was generated by me was too much. It hurt too much. And I had too much work left to do right now.

"Get Yang to safety. Get someone to help her."

I turned and left before waiting for Blake to respond at all, running towards Beacon Tower. To Ozpin. I had a sinking feeling that something was happening there. I needed to help him. I couldn't afford to lose him.

I reached the tower just in time to find Pyrrha and her blonde friend running out of it. Explosions echoed from within as I reached them.

"Pyrrha! What's happening?"

"I went with Ozpin to Amber. I'd made my choice. But, the woman…. She, she killed Amber." Pyrrha looked at me, sadness filling her eyes. "She killed Amber. She took her powers. Ozpin's fighting her now. He told us to leave…"

I didn't answer as I shoved through her and her friend and in to the tower.

"Chess, no! You can't help him!"

I didn't stop, I didn't hesitate. I took the elevator down, infuriated by how long it seemed to take, and entered the long corridor. Sure enough, Ozpin was fighting with a woman in a red dress. The woman was floating, fire was surrounding her. Ozpin saw me first, and his face turned from one of concentration to shock. The woman turned her head towards me next. I was behind her, putting her between me and Ozpin.

"Chess, get out of here!" He shouted.

I snarled, releasing my claws and shooting myself in to the air towards the woman. I didn't think. I was too angry. Too hurt. Too scared to lose someone that meant so much to me. As I got closer to the woman I got a good look at her face. It was so familiar. So familiar it hurt. Literally.

My head exploded in a searing pain, and my vision went black. I was still conscious, but all I knew was pain. The woman hit me with something that felt like fire, and I crashed to the ground. But I didn't care about that. All I cared about was the pain. The excruciating pain racking my head. I retracted my claws and gripped my head, screaming in pain.

"You're that boy." The woman spoke calmly, and I recognized it as the voice over the intercom earlier. "The boy from the first time. The boy that caused problems, and caused me from taking Amber."

Suddenly the memories flooded back. The memories of the day Amber was attacked. But instead of the black faces attached to the bodies of her attackers, faces were filled in. Mercury's, the woman's, and some girl's. Everything was clear suddenly, and the pain in my head was gone.

My vision returned and I laid on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Chess, get out of here! She'll kill you!"

"She'll kill you too!" I shouted in answer, slowly getting to my feet, gasping for breath. It was true. If she really did have Amber's powers now there was nothing Ozpin or anybody but another maiden could do to stop her.

"I'll just kill both of you." The woman intensified the fire surrounding her. Ozpin looked from her to me in fear, and quickly used his power or semblance to reach me. He grabbed my shoulders, and threw me towards the elevator as he surrounded himself in some sort of green aura, and charged at the woman as she shot a beam of fire towards us. Just as they were about to collide, he flicked his wrist and a shield formed around me.

Then, he collided with the fire and shot through it, before an explosion ripped through the area. The shield saved me from the initial impact, but it eventually broke and I was thrown through the elevator door and in to the duct. I fell through the darkness before I caught a ledge, and hung there momentarily, before climbing back to the corridor.

When I reached the floor, no one was there. Not the woman… not Ozpin. I heard a screeching sound coming from the elevator duct, and poked my head in and looked up to find the elevator itself flying up. I didn't know who it was, but I figured that was my best bet at finding someone that I needed to find, so I leaped in to the duct and began the long trek to the top.

Finally, after what felt like ages, I reached the elevator, and pulled myself in through the hole in the floor of it. The elevator was open to Ozpin's office, where the woman stood in a chokehold, her captive: Pyrrha. I was shocked to find that Pyrrha had somehow bested her, but then heard a shrieking come from outside, and watched as the giant Grim flew straight towards the large wall of windows.

I reacted despite the growing fear of the Grim. "Pyrrha, move!" I stood to my feet and ran towards the two, just as the woman snapped Pyrrha's swords to shards and threw her away as the Grim crashed in to the top of the tower, shattering the windows and knocking the top of the tower off. The walls broke and crumbled, the top of the tower crashing to the ground outside and to the bottom.

Pyrrha was sitting against a remaining section of the wall, breathing hard, her shield lying in front of her. The woman looked at me, and a stab of fear shot through me, but mostly anger. If she was here, where was Ozpin?

A look of realization must have crossed a confused face of mine, because the woman smirked evilly. I blinked and composed myself. I couldn't let myself think that way. I refused to believe that Ozpin was gone. Not Ozpin.

The wind whipped around us ferociously as the woman rose in to the air. Pyrrha reacted and used her polarity on a piece of fallen metal, throwing it at the woman to try and subdue her. The woman was hit, only to blast it off of her with fire and rise back in to the air.

I leaped and attacked at her as she threw fireballs at Pyrrha, hoping to either distract her or land an attack as she dealt with Pyrrha. Instead she threw a ball at me, only giving me a side glance, and continued attacking Pyrrha. As I was in the air, I couldn't fully move out of the way. I used my claw and grabbed the ball as it hit me, hitting my left side and twisting my body as I reached the woman.

I shouted and latched on to her ankle, causing her to fall off balance just as Pyrrha threw her shield. The woman knocked it to the side, growing angrier and kicking me away with ease. The woman gasped in shock as she saw the multiple, large gears from the clock tower floating around her. Pyrrha knocked her off balance with her shield before burying her in the gears.

I coughed and gasped for air as I stood up, standing a few feet from Pyrrha as I watched the woman's grave. I knew this wasn't over. It couldn't be. It couldn't be that easy. And of course it wasn't.

A fire grew slowly at first underneath the gears, before erupting and shooting them back at us. Pyrrha raised her shield quickly as I dropped to the ground to dodge a large one coming straight at us. The gear slammed in to her shield and shot her in to a small piece of remaining wall. She flashed red, and I knew that meant her aura was done. She was done. She couldn't keep going.

Despite that, Pyrrha stood up and threw her shield at the woman, who had conjured a bow. She shot and arrow at the same time that Pyrrha threw her shield. I watched as the two should have clashed, but instead the arrow broke down, and reformed behind the shield as it passed through, and flew straight in to Pyrrha's Achilles tendon.

"Pyrrha!" I shouted.

She fell to the ground, trying to stand but unable to do so. I roared and charged the woman, who turned to face me calmly. I turned invisible, earning a slight look of shock from the woman. I attacked her from all sides, reappearing to attack only to disappear to move and attack from a different position.

Most of my attacks landed, though they were weak only with the intent of being fast. Catch her off her feet, keep her off of her feet. That was my strategy. Eventually the woman struck out with her bow, catching me across the chest and throwing me to the other end of what used to be Ozpin's office.

I grunted as I slowly got to my feet, the woman surrounding herself in fire again.

"You thwarted my plans once, rat. It won't happen again."

She shot a beam of fire at me. I moved to the side, dodging the beam but unable to dodge the collapsing tower floor from underneath me. I shouted in shock, losing my balance and beginning to fall with the collapsing floor. I quickly composed myself, however, and pushed off the chunk of ground I was on and grabbed the ledge of the office floor that was left from where I had been.

I hung there for a moment, letting what parts were going to collapse to finish collapsing, before slowly pulling myself back up. I lay on the ground, exhausted and hardly able to move. The woman was stalking around Pyrrha, who was on her knees and elbows, unable to stand.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." The woman mocked Pyrrha calmly." The woman stopped at Pyrrha's head and kneeled down, grabbing Pyrrha's chin and forcing her to look at her. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you never could have imagined."

Pyrrha sat back, ripping her chin out of the woman's hand. "Do you believe in destiny?" Despite the situation, Pyrrha was calm and defiant still. I admired her courage. No wonder Ozpin chose her. She deserved it.

"Yes." The woman stood up quickly and reformed a bow and arrow in her hands, pointing the arrow directly at Pyrrha. I gasped and stood to my feet as quickly as I could, but I was sure that it was still too slow.

"No!" I screamed, running forward as the woman released the arrow.

The arrow sunk in to Pyrrha's chest. I tripped and slid across the ground, reaching Pyrrha and grabbing her body as she began to slump to the ground. Gasping for air, Pyrrha slumped in to my chest as I held her.

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha, no." I whispered.

Red smoke rose from where the arrow was imbedded in Pyrrha's chest. Pyrrha stopped gasping for air, and her body turned bright gold. And then slowly, she turned to gold ash and the wind carried her away. Her circlet was all that was left, clattering to the stone ground. I gasped for air, blinking in shock.

"Pyrrha!?" I shouted. I lost her. She was gone. I failed her. I failed Qrow. I failed Ozpin.

I failed.

Suddenly, I heard Ruby screaming Pyrrha's name, and everything went bright white.

 **A/N:** **Sorry this one took so long guys, I have finals this week so I've been busy trying to study and get everything in order for that. I will try to update either late this week or early next, it just depends on what happens with my schedule, but I promise I'm going to keep going! Also note that from here on out in the story I'm probably going to be messing with the timelines. Stuff going on in Volume 4 might happen out of order and I'll probably be adding my own events in as well. So just a forewarning! Thank you for all of your support and I hope you continue to enjoy the story! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out, guys! I just got through finals week and the full week of complete studying that comes before that. I'm on break now though so I'm hoping to be able to push a few chapters out before school gets back in! Thank you for the support I've been getting and I'm glad you've been enjoying! As always enjoy, reviews/constructive criticism/etc. is always appreciated! Thanks for reading and have a great holiday season!  
**

 **Volume 1, Chapter 5:** **Healing Moments**

"Come on, kid…"

"Is he okay?"

"Where's Ozpin?"

"Is that Ruby?"

"What happened to them?"

I couldn't move, let alone open my eyes. My whole body ached. My skull pounded. I couldn't even groan. I was aware that someone eventually found me and picked me up, and from the long trek until they laid my body down they must have carried me out of the tower. Or, what was left of it.

Eventually I was put down, laying on the hard stone ground. It was cold. Really cold. People were talking around me. How many were there, or who even was talking, I didn't know. One of my fingers twitched, and if I had the energy yet to groan I would have. What happened? Did Cinder do this to me? If she had, what happened to Ruby?

That thought is what got me moving again. I forced my fingers to move, each in turn, before clenching my fists. I slowly forced all of my appendages to move, before I could slowly blink my eyes open. Qrow was sitting next to me, looking across me at someone else.

I groaned as I moved to try and sit up, only to realize I literally had absolutely no strength left over. Qrow jumped and looked at me, moving to see if I was hurt. His eyes were filled with worry, and I stored that bit of information away for later teasing material.

"You okay, kid?" He asked, scanning my body the entire time until I could answer.

"Yeah." I coughed.

"That's a relief." Goodwitch sighed from the other side of me. She moved closer and entered my field of view.

"Can you sit up?" Ironwood moved and entered my field of view, standing near my feet.

I didn't verbally respond. Instead I took a deep breath and prepared myself, before using all of my strength and determination in the simple act of pushing myself up. I groaned and almost fell back, but Qrow moved and positioned his leg so that I could lean back on his left leg, and was still able to see him on my right.

As I sat up I looked around weakly. We were on the roof of a building near the port by the school. We were the only people here. It took a few moments but then I realized that there was a body lying on the ground to my left, and when I looked at it closer I realized it was Ruby.

"Is she okay?" I groaned and tried to move my arm to her, but my strength gave out.

"She's a tough kid, she'll be okay." Qrow answered gently.

"What happened?" I didn't take my eyes off Ruby, mostly because I was too tired to move anymore.

"We were hoping you could tell us that." Ironwood responded. His arms were folded behind his back, and an overwhelming amount of rage filled inside of me.

"You're always… demanding people… do whatever you want." I was breathing heavily, having to take multiple pauses in every sentence. Ironwood, Qrow, and Goodwitch were all looking at me with some form of shock on their face, though Qrow's was still mostly worry.

"You bring… soldiers here… and act surprised… when shit hits the fan… People get hurt… and you still… stand there… and demand… that I explain… everything to you…" I moved my eyes to look at him, glaring as vehemently as I could. "You can go fuck yourself."

And then everything went black.

I woke up in a bed, sunlight filtering over my chest and abdomen, which was covered by a blanket. I opened my eyes and tested all of my muscles out, feeling out the waters. They were sore, but not nearly as sore as the last time I was conscious. I looked around the room before I moved, only to find that no one else was there.

From the looks of the room I was sitting in some inn's lodging. As far as rooms go, it was one of the nicer ones Qrow and I had ever stayed at. And judging from some random articles of clothing and cups around the room, Qrow was staying here too. I sighed in relief. Good, some normalcy at least. I figured there was going to be a lot of craziness going around soon.

I sat up and leaned back against the headboard, looking through the thin white curtains and the window next to my bed, watching the trees outside sway in the wind. As I watched the trees I tried to take stock of what had happened the night before.

Pyrrha had destroyed a robot girl, and all hell had broken loose. Mercury had faked being attacked by Yang, exactly how I hadn't figured out yet. Cinder was their leader, and she was working with the White Fang. They flooded White Fang and Grim in to the city, killing innocent people and attacking Beacon. I'd found Blake and Yang fighting some man that was a member of the White Fang, only to watch as he cut off Yang's arm.

Poor Yang, I wondered if she was okay. Where she was, how she was handling it. I hadn't seen her since Blake wouldn't let go of her but also wouldn't let me near her. That was another thing, Blake was terrified of me. I wasn't sure why, either. I'd fought that man to save them, sure, maybe I'd gone a little overboard. I shook my head, deciding to move that issue down the list of importance. After Yang…

Cinder had killed Amber. She was the Fall Maiden now. Her and Ozpin fought, and Ozpin had disappeared.

Ozpin. Where was he? He wasn't the kind of person to just run. Was he? No. I shook my head and wiped the small tears that had started forming in my eyes at the thought. Ozpin wasn't dead. He couldn't be. My gut told me that. Wherever he was, he was still out there somewhere.

Pyrrha. Tears rolled out of my eyes and down my cheeks. She was dead. She was gone. I'd promised to protect her and I failed her.

Promises. I'd broken two in one fell swoop. I'd failed Pyyrha. I'd promised Yang everything was going to be okay and look what had happened there. I was the worst at keeping promises. Note to self: Don't make anymore promises.

I heard the door open but didn't move as I heard Qrow grunt and move through the threshold.

"Oh. You're finally awake." I turned and looked at him.

"Finally?" He looked tired, almost as if he hadn't slept in days.

"You've been out for a few days." Qrow dropped on his bed, sighing in relief.

"How long have you been up?" A few days? What had happened while I was out?

"I've barely slept. Been too busy running between you and the girls to do much other than eat."

"How are they? Are they okay?"

"They're both at home resting. They rushed Yang to a hospital to stabilize her, she'd lost a lot of blood. Ruby's asleep, but she hasn't woken up still. Maybe it's a good sign that you're awake. Maybe she'll wake up soon."

"What about everybody else?"

"Everybody else, or Ozpin?" Qrow looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Damn him. He knew me too well. Qrow took my silence as his answer. "Ozpin's missing. He's not gone, my gut tells me he's out there somewhere. But where, we don't know."

I nodded my head. So Qrow had the same feeling. Good. We were still on the same page, kind of.

"Alright, Qrow. Fill me in. What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Pyrrha died in my arms. Cinder killed her. And then I heard Ruby scream and everything went white. Then I woke up surrounded by you guys."

"What color are Ruby's eyes, Chess?"

I squinted my eyes at him in confusion. "Silver. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Silver eyes are an extremely rare trait. She got them from her mom. Oz told me about a legend, once. A long time ago. Before huntsman and kingdoms. It was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to live the life of a warrior. Apparently, the Grim were afraid of these silver eyed warriors.

"They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these warriors could strike a Grim down. It's a ridiculous story." Qrow laughed at the end, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he believed something about it.

"So what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, there's currently a huge monster frozen on top of Beacon tower, and both you and Ruby are in bed, safe and sound."

"The dragon? She killed it?"

"Well, it's not dead. It's quite literally frozen at the top of the tower. Grim are still flooding in to Beacon, so it's still attracting them. But it's frozen there."

I looked down at the sheets covering my body.

"So what now?"

"Now, we're taking a few days off. You're going to rest, because the state you're in right now will just end up getting us both killed."

"But where are we going? We're going to track down Oz, right?" Qrow sat up, and looked at me seriously.

"We're going to find Oz eventually, but not now. Wherever he went, he went there for a good reason. We have to keep doing what we were doing before."

"So we're just going to abandon him?" My voice rose in volume a lot more than I meant it to. "What if he's hurt, Qrow? We didn't plan on Cinder becoming the Maiden! We didn't plan for Oz to have to fight her! What if wherever he went to isn't where he needed to go? He could be dying, for all we know!"

"I know, Chess. But this Oz we're talking about, we have to have faith that he's fine."

I looked away from Qrow, at the wall across from me, and glared at it. I couldn't believe it. The man who had done so much for both of us, and Qrow was just going to leave him.

"Cinder's trail leads towards Haven. The Spring Maiden is somewhere in Mistral, as well. So once you're ready to go, that's where we're heading to. We have to pick up the pieces. We have to keep going."

"What about Goodwitch and Ironwood?"

"Goodwitch is staying behind, she's working on rebuilding with the refugees for now. Ironwood won't speak to me, on account of… how did he phrase it? 'The blatantly disrespectful piece of shit I have for an apprentice.'" Qrow smirked at me. "Good one by the way. He'll get over it eventually."

"So we're going to Mistral." My anger subsided.

"That we are. We've got some places to stop and people to see first, but they're all on the way anyway."

"Qrow, do you know what happened to Blake and Weiss?"

"From what I understand Blake's somewhere hiding, probably trying to figure out what to do next. Weiss' father came and took her home. I'm not sure we'll be seeing any more for her for a long time."

I nodded my head. "You should get some sleep."

Qrow nodded in response, laying back down on his bed. "Maybe just an hour or two."

Within minutes of closing his eyes Qrow was out. I stood up and changed out of the sweatpants and shirt I was wearing in to my normal clothes, and put my claws on. I walked out of the room and closed it quietly behind me, and walked through the inn and outside.

I pulled my phone out and dialed Blake's number, stretching as I did so. I didn't expect her to answer, so when I eventually got to her voicemail I wasn't too shocked. I looked around the small town we were at, wondering where I was. I needed to stretch my muscles out, even if it wasn't exactly in the way that I wanted to.

I strolled down the street, watching the people I passed. They were calm, not scared. That meant we couldn't be too close to Beacon, or else there would be an air of fear. Not this calm, everyday business feeling.

I eventually reached a market area. Merchants were set up with their crops and wares. I strolled around, looking but not really interested in shopping, before a man bumped his shoulder in to mine by accident.

"Woah, I'm sorry! I've got my hands full so it's kind of- Chess?" The man was Taiyang Xiao Long, easily recognizable by his bright blonde hair and tan skin. Taiyang was father to Yang and Ruby, which meant we must be in the town closest to their home.

"Long time no see! I heard you were at Beacon, that you were the one who saved Yang." Tai put down the box of food he had, and put his hand on my shoulder. "Thank you for that."

"You don't have to thank me, Tai. How's she doing?"

"She's… she'll get through it. You know Yang, she's tough as nails." Tai spoke confidently but he looked tired. I could only imagine how much he was dealing with emotionally right now. "But hey, now that you're awake that means Ruby should wake up soon too!"

"Yeah, I'm sure she will." I smiled encouragingly, but I honestly felt exhausted still.

"You should come by for dinner soon, Chess. I'm sure it would make Yang happy and I haven't seen you in so long. It'd be nice."

"Yeah, of course, Tai. I'll stop by soon."

Tai patted my shoulder a few times before picking his box of food back up and heading off, whistling cheerily. I admired Tai for that. No matter what was going on in his life he could always at least try to seem like he was happier than what he really was. He was always able to put a smile on his face or someone else's.

The next few days drug by with the same routine. Hang out around the town, but don't leave because you're not ready yet, Chess. Qrow would commute from the girls to back here for food to back there to constantly check up on them. I'd call Blake at least once a day, hoping she'd eventually pick up, but she hadn't yet.

Then one night I finally decided to go have dinner with Tai and Yang, without telling Qrow. Tai and Qrow had a strained relationship. They tolerated each other and for the most part would have a good time, but sometimes they just butted heads too much.

We were sitting at their dining room table, Yang across from me and Tai on a side between us. We were eating some kind of soup that Tai had made.

It was hard seeing Yang armless. It was a constant reminder of the promise I'd made and broken, but I tried to ignore it as much as I could and make the night a good one. We both needed laughs. We both needed to feel better about our current situation.

"So we went to the inn in the town we were staying at after we'd finished killing the last Grim, and the innkeeper turns out to be this girl that Qrow found to be extremely attractive. So he's too busy trying to talk her up. While he's staring at her he's trying to grab his mug but he's missing it because, you know, he's not looking at it. So right as he's about to grab it I slid my tail in to the handle and knocked the mug off the table and all down his shirt." The three of us erupted in laughter, and I took a long sip of my water before continuing. "And to this day Qrow still doesn't know that I'm the one who ruined his chances with that girl."

"Pure evil, Chess." Yang laughed at me. She looked happy right now, here in this moment. It warmed my heart. Tai was right, she'd be okay eventually. It was going to be a long road for her, but she'd be fine.

The tv in the living room was on, but the volume was low. However I could hear it if I focused, so when I heard the news reporter say something about the White Fang I tuned in instantly.

"Reports of members of the White Fang camping near Lake Dessica have been flooding in. Apparently they've been attacking anyone who comes down the road-" I tuned out again so as not to draw attention to the news, knowing it would probably upset Yang.

The rest of the night was spent with talk, jokes, and laughter. Eventually it was late, so I wished Tai and Yang good nights and left. As I walked back to town I pulled my phone out, and called Blake again. This time when I got to her voicemail I left her one.

"I know you're avoiding me, Blake. I also know you're in town somewhere, waiting until you find out that Ruby's okay. There's a group of White Fang by the lake nearby. I'm going to raid it and drive them off tomorrow, you can either join me or not. I'll be at the town shrine at 8."

The next morning I sat on top of the large shrine at the edge of the town, watching the clouds pass by. It was almost 8. Almost time to leave by myself.

"Are you just going to sit there all day?" I smirked and looked down, finding Blake standing at the bottom, arms crossed and staring at me. I hopped down and landed next to her, and found that she was watching me apprehensively. I sighed.

"Look, I don't know what I did exactly to make you afraid of me, but I'm sorry. I don't normally lose control like that. He had just hurt Yang, and he was going to hurt y-"

"It's fine, Chess." She interrupted me and dropped her arms to her sides. "I was afraid because I have history with Adam, the guy you hurt. And even after all of that it still just hurt to watch him be hurt like that. But I'm over it now. I'm sorry I've been avoiding you." I blinked in shock, and shook my head.

"No, don't worry about it. I get it. Now, let's get going."

It only took us about an hour and a half of trekking through the woods to reach the lake, and the White Fang camp was even easier to find as they had multiple campfires going, even in the middle of the day.

Blake and I perched on a tree branch, hidden from any prying eyes but watching the camp ourselves. It was a small one, probably just a propaganda group heading around towns to recruit possible future members. It didn't even look like they had any high ranking officials with them. Well this wasn't going to be as much fun as I thought it would be.

"Alright," I whispered and looked at Blake "there's like twenty of them. So here's what we're going to do."

I explained the plan to her, she smirked, and we both climbed down the tree. I quietly stalked closer towards the camp, before hiding behind a bush. I activated my semblance, turning invisible, and walked in to the open slowly.

I moved quietly and slowly, watching every step so I wouldn't disturb any objects lying around and give up my position. I moved towards one of the campfires, and watched as one of the White Fang members sitting there stood up and began to leave. As he turned his back I quickly extended my claws and used them to grab one of the burning logs and threw it in to one of the tents, collapsing it and watching as it burst in to flames.

"Hey, what the hell!" A man shouted and charged at the White Fang member who had just begun to walk away from the fire. "What'd you do that for?"

"I didn't do anything!" The man yelled back as the angry one grabbed his shirt. While they were distracted, I repeated my attack again, this time throwing the log at a different tent.

"See!" The man being attacked yelled. The angry one threw him aside and began yelling at other people to start grabbing buckets to put the flames out. I watched as Blake took a few large sticks and moved towards the tent burning at the outside of the ring, and lit them on fire. Then, she threw them one at a time at different tents, lighting them on fire.

Soon, the entire camp was on fire. I joined up with Blake again, going visible, and unsheathed my claws as she pulled her guns out.

"Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

We then ran in to the camp and began attacking the members. Most of them were caught off guard, turning and running. But a few of them pulled out weapons and retaliated. I caught the blade of one of the swords on my claws, before kicking the man's feet out from under him and throwing the sword in to one of the fires.

I leaned over the man and snarled in his face. "Get all of these people together, and leave. Don't ever come back near this place, or else."

The man scrambled away and ran, not stopping to talk to anyone else, but they were all mostly running away anyway. Blake shot at the last few remaining members that were running away, before joining back up with me.

"Alright, let's get this fire under control."

Blake and I then set out grabbing the buckets that the members of the White Fang had left strewn about the place, filling them up with water at the lakeshore that was being used as one edge of the camp, and throwing them on the fire.

Eventually, we managed to stop the fires and keep them from spreading. We ran further in to the woods as we heard people coming near us, so as to avoid their prying eyes. We sat in a tree as we waited for them to leave, knowing it might be a while.

"So, I see you made it out of Beacon alive." I tried to start a conversation, not wanting it to be awkward. For us to go back to at least being friends that met through a mutual friend.

"Yeah. I got Yang back to the others as soon as you left and then they took her away and I left. I found out about Ruby and heard that they brought them both home so I came here and I've been waiting to hear about Ruby now."

"What're you going to do when she wakes up?"

"I'm going to go home. I'm going to go to Menagerie. I need to sort through some stuff, and I haven't seen my family in a while." I nodded and we sat in silence for a few moments. She wasn't being short, she wasn't ignoring me. That was good right? Why did I even care what she thought about me?

"So what're you going to do now?"

"I think once Ruby wakes up Qrow and I are going to Mistral. Apparently the people who attacked Beacon are heading there next." Blake nodded and sighed as the people checking out the camp were still there.

"What went on between you and that Adam guy?"

Blake stiffened next to me, but kept looking straight ahead. Her yellow eyes piercing through anything in her line of sight.

"He was my first love. Before he changed he was one of the greatest people I'd ever met. Dedicated, caring, loyal. We joined the White Fang together, but once leadership changed the group changed. When they changed, Adam did too. I didn't. He changed slowly at first, I didn't realize it was happening until it was too late. He became a monster."

I looked over casually and found that she was tearing up, tears almost spilling over her eyelids. Without thinking I reached over with my left hand and wiped them away, pausing with my hand by her right cheek as she looked at me in shock, in shock myself. I blinked multiple times before shaking my head quickly and returning my hand on the branch next to me. What was I doing?

We sat in a 100% completely awkward atmosphere after that until the people left, which seemed to take forever. It was actually almost dark by the time they finally left. Blake and I dropped from the branch we were perched on and slowly started heading for the village. I dropped behind ever so slightly, not wanting to make things any more awkward than they already were. Which, I doubt would've been possible, but still.

Eventually we reached the village and Blake looked at me out of the side of her eyes.

"Thanks for today. I needed it." I nodded and slid my right hand in to my pocket, rubbing the back of my head with my left hand and looking at my feet.

"Yeah, of course. Anytime." I heard shuffling and when I looked up Blake's face was mere centimeters from mine.

When I say centimeters, I'm not exaggerating. I stopped breathing for fear of colliding with her, though Qrow will tell you differently. All of the blood pumping through my heart instantly rushed to my face as Blake stepped closer to me, her arms brushing against mine. I didn't know what to do, all of the training in the world had never prepared me for an encounter like this. I'd been trained on how to deal with Grim and people hunting for the maidens and what not. I'd never been trained on how to deal with encounters of the female variety. Or male, if that's how I rolled, I didn't know.

The next thing I knew Blake's lips were colliding with mine, and her hands moved up and gently held my chin. My arms, however, were either numbly by my side or hanging in the air. Jesus what an idiot I was. As quickly as it had happened, it was over, and Blake turned and disappeared to wherever she was going.

I think I stood there for an eternity afterwards, trying to restart my heart and catch my breath. What had just happened? Eventually, I got my bearings back at least a little, and decided to go back to the inn.

I crashed on my bed and not two seconds later Qrow opened the door and walked in. He casually glanced at me and looked away, before stopping in midstride as he crossed the room and looking at me again quickly.

"Why're you smiling like that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes in confusion. I was smiling? I quickly wiped the smile that I didn't know had appeared from my face and looked at the ceiling, crossing my arms behind my head.

"I'm not." Was all I replied with. Qrow narrowed his eyes further and maneuvered around to sit on the side of his bed that was a foot away from mine, and leaned on his knees to look at me closer. I raised an eyebrow and scrunched my nose up at him in confusion, returning his stare. What the hell was he doing?

Suddenly Qrow's eyes lit up and he smiled widely.

"You finally kissed a girl!" He barked and began laughing hysterically as I sat up faster than I ever had in my life.

"Did not!"

"Of course you did! I come in and you're smiling all weird and you've got some weird look in your eyes. And to add to it, you're blushing now!" As if my face wasn't already beet red, it just grew in intensity. Qrow only laughed harder as I groaned.

"Shut up, old man!" I reached behind me and chunked one of my pillows at him, before flopping on the bed and throwing my other pillow over my head.

"I can't believe Chessie finally kissed a girl." Qrow sighed with humor still dripping from every word.

"I said shut up." My voice was muffled by the pillow.

"If I'd known destroying White Fang camps and lighting them on fire would get me the girls I'd have been doing that way more."

I moved the pillow off my face and looked at Qrow in confusion. How'd he know that's where I'd been today?

"Oh come on, Chess. I'm not an idiot. You leave the room a few hours before we catch wind that the nearby camp had been set on fire, only for people to get there and find that it looked like they were attacked. And then, you show up back here a few hours after everyone gets back from inspecting the area and making sure the fire's out? You've got to do better than that to pull a fast one on me."

I sighed and moved my pillow so that my head was sitting on it. I closed my eyes and after a few minutes was almost completely asleep before Qrow decided to speak again.

"Blake's cute. She's a good one."

"Qrow! Shut. Up."


	6. Chapter 6

**Volume 1, Chapter 6: We're… Taking a Swim?**

The next morning Qrow basically forced me to go to the girls' house with him. I wasn't sure why, and as we walked through the town I kept my out for Blake, though I had a feeling I wouldn't see her again for a while. When we arrived Tai answered the door, but he looked as if he had just woken up, or maybe he'd just never fallen asleep.

He let us inside and we all sat at their kitchen table, sipping some tea that Tai had made and just talking about whatever came to mind. Eventually Tai made a cup of tea and grabbed his and headed towards the stairs to take it to Yang.

I sat the table with my head leaning on my right arm, tired and bored. I flicked my tail and looked around the room, trying to find anything to do or talk about.

"Qrow, we've been in this town for two weeks now."

"Mhm." Qrow reached in to his coat pocket and pulled out his flask, opened it, and took a swig of alcohol. It was nine in the morning and he was already drinking? I scoffed and shook my head. "What about it?"

"We can't stay here forever. Whether she wakes up or not." I was stating facts. I wanted to stay around longer, help Yang through what she was going through and to make sure Ruby was okay, but I also wanted to get out there and find Ozpin as fast as possible.

"I know." Qrow took another swig and stared at the ceiling, before looking shocked and standing up quickly, a small smirk playing on his lips. "She's awake."

Before I could say or do anything, Qrow was at the stairs and taking them two at a time. I moved quickly and chased after him, catching up as he strode through Ruby's doorframe and in to her room. My toe caught the edge of the stair and I tripped, running in to the doorframe and latching on in order not to fall.

I stood up straight and looked in to the room to see Tai standing there, an eyebrow raised and looking at me as he moved around me and out of the room. "You good?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." I answered, chuckling slightly. Great, now I was catching Ruby's clutziness. Must be something in the air here.

I looked up to see Ruby sitting up in her bed, hands laying over the blanket on her lap. She looked tired, even though she'd just woken up. Whatever she'd done, it did a number on her as well. We made eye contact and I smiled encouragingly and she smiled back, seemingly in relief.

"Hi, Chess."

"Hey, Rubes."

"How're you feeling?" Qrow asked as he moved and pulled a wooden chair to him and sat down next to her bed. I moved and slowly climbed on to her bed, sitting on the corner of the bed by her feet and closest to the wall.

"I kind of hurt all over." Ruby answered gently.

"Well it makes sense, after what you did." Ruby narrowed her eyes at Qrow's response and looked from him to me and back to him quickly.

"You guys keep saying that. That I did something. What're you talking about?" I looked at Qrow. So she didn't remember anything either?

Qrow locked eyes with me and then looked back at Ruby, leaning towards her in his seat. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I ran up the side of the tower. And when I got to the top, I-" Ruby gasped and covered her mouth with a hand, looking at Qrow in horror. "Pyyrha! Is she?"

I looked away and at the blanket I was sitting on as Qrow answered. "She's gone." He finally answered after a long moment of silence.

"I, I…" Ruby stuttered and choked back tears that were starting to fill her eyes. "I got to the top, and I saw Pyrrha and Chess… and Cinder." I clenched my fists tightly in my lap and flicked my tail in anger. Ruby clenched the edge of her blanket in her hands and held it tightly. "And then everything went white."

"Anything else?" Qrow asked after a moment of silence, letting some of Ruby's tears fall on her lap and letting her compose herself.

"I remember my head hurting." Ruby shook her head in confusion as she wiped her eyes.

"The night you met Ozpin, what was the first thing he said to you?" Qrow asked and I looked between him and Ruby in confusion. What did that have to do with anything?

"I don't know. I think it was something about-"

"Silver eyes." Qrow finished her sentence for her, and everything clicked in to place and made sense. Qrow began telling her the same story about the silver-eyed warriors that he told me when I woke up.

"Wait, wait how did you know what Ozpin said to me the night we met?" Ruby asked once he'd finished telling the story.

"All those missions we go on, all those times we're away in some far off place… it's been for Ozpin." I watched Qrow as he moved and stood at the window, looking outside with his hands on the windowsill.

"But he's missing now. Something's been set in motion, and with Oz gone I'll have to pick up where he left off." It was almost as if Qrow was talking to himself. Reassuring himself in some way that he could do what needed to be done.

"Then what can I do?" Ruby meekly asked. I looked over to find her looking tiredly at her hands, and then up at me and Qrow. "If I'm so special, then I can help!... Right?" I could see in her eyes that she desperately wanted to do something, anything, to help. To make it feel as though Pyrrha's death meant something.

"You really want to help?" Qrow asked as he moved from the window to stand next to me, at the foot of her bed. "Get some rest. You're in no condition to go anywhere right now." Qrow nudged my shoulder and he moved towards the door. Were we leaving right now? I looked at Ruby, who looked at me desperately, but I agreed with Qrow. Ruby had seen some shit now, maybe she'd grow up and mature some more. But even if she would, she still hadn't. She was still a kid right now. She'd just be a bright red target for any Grim out there. I shrugged and stood up, moving towards Qrow, who stopped and turned back to Ruby, and I sidestepped out of their way.

"Besides, our enemy's trail leads all the way to Haven. That'd be quite a trip for a pipsqueak like you." Qrow chuckled teasingly. I smirked and was pleased to see Ruby smile slightly for just a moment. "Catch ya later, kiddo." Qrow turned and moved out of the room.

"See ya, Ruby." I said over of my shoulder as I followed Qrow out.

Qrow didn't turn towards Yang's room at all, and instead headed down the stairs. I paused at the top, wondering if we'd be coming back at all or if we were leaving for good this time. Again. Just like we had all those years ago. I looked at my feet, and then quickly turned and moved to Yang's room. I stood at the door, which was open only enough so that you could just push it open instead of turning the handle.

I rapped my knuckles on the wooden door softly, and pushed the door open ever so slightly. "Yang?" I poked my head in to find her sitting up in her bed, looking out her window and not turning to look at me. I gulped as I saw her fist weapons lying on the table next to her bed. I looked at my feet.

"I think me and Qrow are leaving for a while again, and I don't know when I'll see you guys again." I watched Yang's body, hoping for a reaction but didn't receive any. I placed my palm on the doorframe and looked at the floor of her room sadly, my tail drooping.

"I'm so sorry, Yang." My voice was a whisper and my left hand was shaking by my side. I swallowed a lump out of my throat, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. "I promised you that everything was going to be okay, and I couldn't even help keep that promise." A tear slid down my cheek and on to the floor. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you that's it's going to be okay. That it will ever be okay. I'm not going to make any promises to anyone any more. Every time I do someone either gets hurt or killed." I looked up at Yang to see if she'd responded at all, and when I saw that she hadn't moved I sighed quietly.

"Goodbye, Yang. If you ever need anything, I'm just a call away." With that I turned and closed her door behind me, only to come face to face with Ruby.

Being the manly cat-man that I was, I yowled in shock and leaped back, thumping in to the door and earning a laugh from Ruby.

"Jesus, Ruby! Don't get that close!" I scolded her as I shoved by her. Ruby scoffed and looked at me angrily.

"Well you don't have to be rude, you know." I made a face at her, earning one back from her.

"Chess, stop being a child and let's go." Qrow called from the foot of the stairs.

"She started it." I mumbled, flicking my tail as I stalked down the stairs. Without any further words to anyone, we left.

I was right in assuming that we wouldn't be coming back. As soon as we left their house we'd gone to the inn, grabbed our bags, and left town. I figured Blake would have heard that Ruby was awake by now and that she also would have left town.

"So we're going to Haven?" I asked Qrow about an hour after we'd left the town. We'd been walking in silence, and while that was normal with Qrow I was also used to at least knowing where we were going.

"Maybe not Haven specifically, but more than likely, yes. We're going to Mistrel. The Spring Maiden is somewhere there." Qrow answered without looking at me, or without stopping. I narrowed my eyes at his back, wondering if something was wrong but deciding not to push it.

We'd had a good break from being on the road, and I guess my senses were a little rusty, because the next thing I knew Qrow was turning and pulling me forward, knocking me to the ground. I turned around quickly to say something to him, before finding him slicing an Ursa's head off.

I blinked as it hit the ground at my feet and then watched as its head and body dissipated. I didn't have time to think, but instead unsheathed my claws as Ursa began pouring out of the surrounding forest and slowly surrounded us.

As I got to my feet I began counting Ursa. I expected four, maybe five. However as I counted and the Ursa came closer, more Ursa just poured out of the forest behind them. I gulped when I reached twenty.

"Qrow… there's too many of them."

"I know. Are there any behind us?" I looked behind us quickly, down the road.

"Not yet. But there will be soon." I answered.

"Alright." There was a pause as we watched the Ursa approach us further, and I waited for Qrow's orders. Suddenly, he spun on his heel and began running as fast as he could. He didn't issue a command to me or anything, but I turned and ran after him.

The Ursa instantly began running after us. I'd call it a pack but it was a horde. There's no way to tell how many of them there were. An Ursa leaped out of the forest at our side and in one fluid motion Qrow sliced its body in half. I pushed off the ground and intercepted one that had come at Qrow's blind side, knocking it to the ground and rolling with it. As we rolled I grabbed its shoulders, making sure I was behind it, and decapitated its head with my claws.

I scrambled to my feet as the Ursa dissipated in my hands and ran on all fours after Qrow, who hadn't stopped but had looked over his shoulder briefly to make sure I was okay. I caught up quickly, as I ran faster on all fours, and fluidly switched to running like normal as to stay with Qrow.

"This way!" Qrow quickly moved through a break in the horde and in to the forest. Nice, we had cover here. We had a chance of losing them.

I heard running water in the distance, and instantly knew that that must be Qrow's plan. Get to the river. Put water between us and them, hopefully make them lose any scent trail of us. However, that plan was ruined as three Ursa suddenly moved in to our path. Qrow slid to a halt, and I had to move to the side slightly and grab a tree branch to keep myself from running in to him. We turned to move around them, but found that we were quickly surrounded.

"Alright, Chess. Don't wimp out on me now." Qrow said as he grabbed his sword with both hands. I smirked as I turned my back to him to face the other side of the Ursa ring.

"Like I ever would."

The Ursa roared and charged us. I ran straight at them. An Ursa leaped at me, paws forward and teeth bared. I slid on to the ground and underneath it, ripping my claws down its stomach and killing it by the time I'd cleared it. I quickly stood up just in time to block an Ursa's paw as it came crashing at me. With my free arm I sliced its leg off and used my newly freed hand to sink my claws in to its neck, decapitating it.

We fought like that for what felt like hours. But no matter how many Ursa we killed, the horde kept coming. It didn't even feel like we were putting a dent in it. I was panting heavily, and I could hear Qrow breathing heavily behind me.

"Alright, Chess! New plan!" I killed an Ursa that charged me while I listened to Qrow, who cut through two Ursa as he yelled at me.

"We're cutting our way to the river! Come on!"

I nodded, even though Qrow probably didn't see it, and turned to join him on his side. We charged towards the Ursa, who only roared at us and charged back. We quickly began hacking and slashing our way through, slowly but surely making a dent through the horde and began making ground towards the river.

Finally, we broke the forest's tree line and found the river directly ahead of us. The river was about twenty feet wide, and the current was strong. We could wade our way through it probably, but there was no way we were getting across while we were fighting Ursa as well.

"Chess, go! I'll hold them off!" Qrow ordered, turning to face the Ursa and pushing me towards the water. I looked at the river and gulped. I wasn't afraid of water, but it definitely wasn't the top on my list of places I'd rather be.

I knew Qrow wouldn't just be sacrificing himself for me, he had to have some sort of plan. So without questioning it I moved towards the river. As I was about to step in the river, an Ursa charged out of the ring and leaped at me, knocking me on the ground and away from the river. I used my claws as a shield to keep the snapping jaws of the animal out of my face.

Before I knew it I was surrounded by five of them, all of them intent on ripping my throat out. I managed to stab the one on top of me in the throat, killing it. I tried standing up but as I did an Ursa swiped at my head and connected. The strength behind the blow shook my entire world, literally. I flew off of my feet and hit the ground harder than I had in a long time. The wind flew out of my lungs and my vision blurred instantly.

I groaned and expected an onslaught of pain to come my way, but as I rolled over on to my back I found a woman standing in front of me. She had dark, curly black hair that went to her shoulders. She killed the four remaining Ursa that had been surrounding me in one fluid motion with a metal spear. Before I had time to inspect the spear she pressed a button on the staff that compacted the blade and staff down to the size of a baton, and placed it on the belt at her hip. She then turned to me and knelt down.

I groaned as I pushed myself up slightly, now leaning up off of the ground and meeting the woman face-to-face. Her dark, flawless skin and deep, amber eyes were unmistakable. I'd know her anywhere.

"Nalasandra?" I asked in shock. What was she doing here? How could she be here? She grinned at me and bared her fangs, which were so large they could rip a person's throat out with ease.

"Hello, Cheshmire. It's been a while since I've seen you two. Guess you finally hit the road again, huh? How was the city life? Everything you ever imagined?" Her voice was pure ecstasy.

"What're you doing here?"

"Well, I couldn't let the Ursa kill you, now could I? That is my job after all." Nalasandra smirked sadistically as she looked away from me and towards Qrow. "However, it'd sure be a shame if I passed this opportunity to kill that pesky mentor of yours up now wouldn't it?"

Before I could do anything Nalasandra had gotten to her feet and taken off after Qrow, pulling her metal baton off her belt again. Qrow didn't know she was there, so it was basically effortless for her to slam the bottom of the staff in to the back of Qrow's head, knocking him out instantly. However she didn't stop there. She grabbed Qrow across his stomach as he slumped forward, and threw him with all of her might.

Straight in to the river.

"Qrow!" I shouted, the Ursa horde and Nalasandra forgotten. I sheathed my claws and took off towards the river, a small weight lifted off my chest as Qrow's head broke the surface of the river, but the strong current took his unconscious body away effortlessly.

I ran alongside the river on all fours, keeping up with and keeping my eye on Qrow's body. I had no idea if the Ursa or if Nalasandra was following me, and I honestly didn't care. Qrow could actually die, here and now, and there was no way I was letting that happen.

I looked ahead down the river as I heard a dull roar slowly get louder, and watched as the river water many football fields away had a white mist around it, and stopped there. My eyes widened in realization and fear. It didn't end there. That was a waterfall.

I sped up and left Qrow's body behind, looking for any boulders or fallen tree trunks that were in the river that I could use to get to him before he got to the waterfall. There weren't any. I stopped moving and began looking around everywhere, trying to figure out what to do. Short of jumping in the river, there wasn't much. So, I decided to do what was probably the worst idea, short of jumping in the river.

I ran to end of the waterfall, and climbed up on the cliff just passed the lip of the waterfall. I moved a good ten feet away from the edge, and watched Qrow's red cloak draw ever closer. I stood on all fours, all of my muscles tense in concentration and preparation. As Qrow was a few feet from the waterfall, I took off.

Qrow's body spilled over the edge of the waterfall as I pushed off the edge of the cliff with all of my might, my body aimed straight for him. I grabbed Qrow's body across his chest with one arm, and used my momentum to get us to the other side of the waterfall and to that cliff face. Thankfully, the waterfall was over fifty feet tall, because by the time we reached the other cliff face we must have dropped about twenty feet.

I unsheathed my claws in midair and as we slammed in to the cliff I tried using my claws and feet to both get any sort of grip on the cliff, and to hang on. I couldn't get a grip, and all we did was slide down the cliff face at an alarming speed still. I had to use Qrow's body, knowing his back was probably getting torn to shreds, but not having any other option.

Thankfully, my left foot got caught on the root of a tree branch poking out of the side of the cliff, and as I begun to get tripped up I simply maneuvered my body and grabbed the branch with my left hand. I was now hanging off the side of a cliff, twenty feet in the air above a large lake of water, constantly being soaked from the spray off the waterfall nearby, holding my unconscious mentor by his chest, by one of the smallest tree branches I'd ever seen in my life. Yeah, as if this couldn't go wrong.

"C'mon, Qrow." I groaned. "You've gotta wake up." I scraped the side of the cliff with my feet, hoping to get some kind of footing, but it wasn't happening. My right shoulder was screaming in pain, as was my left arm.

Then, I heard the tiniest of snaps. My eyes widened as I whipped my head to look up at the branch, which of course was already starting to give out.

"Oh, come on!" I shouted. "Damn it all, Qrow, get up!" I was screaming as loud as I could, but you still probably wouldn't be able to hear me over the roar of the waterfall.

And then the branch snapped completely, and Qrow's weight forced my body to fall backwards, and away from the cliff. Away from any hope of safety. I realized instantly that we were going for a swim. Qrow's body drifted from my grip as I flipped backwards in the air, but I quickly grabbed his legs as his body went by. I pulled myself up and wrapped my arms around his chest, pinning his arms to his side.

I looked up (or, down I guess?) and watched as the water's surface came ever closer. I took a deep breath and buried my face in to Qrow's back as we hit the water.

I broke away from Qrow instantly, and the water was so cold that my body instinctively gasped. I began coughing and choking, trying to get air in to my lungs, but that was impossible because, you know. I was underwater. I began clawing my way to the surface, eventually able to do so. Thankfully the waterfall didn't dump in to another river that had a strong current. This river barely crawled, which allowed me to be pushed to a small circle of land and drag myself up there.

As I crawled on to the sand I retched stomachfuls of water up, finally able to breath after a few seconds. Then, gasping for breath, I began scanning the water for any sign of Qrow, and found it a few yards from me as I spotted his red cloak. His head was under the water.

"No, no, no." I began chanting as I waded my way in to the water, my body feeling heavier than it ever had. I reached Qrow's body, the water coming up to my shoulders, and maneuvered him so that his head was above the water, and pulled him to the sand bank.

I didn't even pull his legs completely out of the water before I began checking for a pulse. There was a pulse, but it was faint, and he definitely wasn't breathing.

"Come on, Qrow! You can't die on me now!" I took my claws off and tossed them in the sand by Qrow's head, placing my palms one over the other on top of his chest. I began pressing my whole body weight on his chest, and performed whatever little bit of CPR Qrow had taught me before. It wasn't much. But I did, dare I admit it, use mouth-to-mouth. It was the most effective way, hell, possibly the only way, to save his life.

And thankfully after a minute of it he began coughing up buckets of water. His eyes shot open and he rolled on to his hands and knees and puked up the water that was in his lungs, which was a lot. I sighed in relief and collapsed on to the sand, my muscles worn out. I held my hands up in front of my face, and found that they were torn to shreds from the cliff.

I looked over at Qrow and found that his jacket and shirt were torn almost completely off from the cliff, but thankfully his aura was healing his cuts already. Qrow eventually stopped coughing and collapsed back on the sand, rolling over to lay next to me.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nalasandra showed up. Knocked you out. Threw you in the river." I said between gasps of air.

Qrow looked at the waterfall and the area around us without moving his head, and then closed his eyes.

"You saved me?" He asked teasingly, chuckling quietly.

"Don't act so surprised. You act like a teenage boy's kiss hasn't made a large impact on your life before."

"What?" Qrow shouted and sat up faster than I'd seen him get up for alcohol sometimes.

"I'm only kidding." I laughed, which quickly turned in to groans of pain. My chest was killing me.

"I'm over here trying to give you props for saving me, and you only ruin them by crying like a baby." Qrow shook his head and collapsed back on the ground.

Eventually, we sat and waited for our stuff to float down to us, thankfully lucky enough to get Qrow's sword and bag, which had all of our camping gear in it. However, we never found my bag. I wasn't sure if this was because it had floated by us, or if Nalasandra had it. More than likely, it was the later of the two.

We set up camp on the beach, pitching our tent against the cliff face. There were a few large bushes around, the branches just sturdy enough that we were able to hang up all of Qrow's clothes and items up so they could dry out. Our gear was too wet to try to use any of it to build a fire, so we were hosed out of one for the night. We both decided very quickly, however, that we were too cold in our soaking wet clothes. So we stripped down to our underwear, hung our clothes up, and climbed in to the tent in an attempt to block the wind from us.

We took turns keeping watch, though by the time it was morning I was pretty sure neither of us had gotten much sleep at all. We got redressed, though Qrow now wore an identical but new jacket and shirt. His cloak, however, now had new sets of holes and tears in it, though secretly I think he likes it.

The rest of our gear had dried completely, thankfully, and so Qrow stuffed everything back in the bag, rolled up the tent, and tied the roll to the bottom of the bag. He sheathed his sword on his back between him and his bag, and we set off.

"Are we still going to Mistral?"

Qrow was silent for a minute, but eventually he answered. "In the long run? Yes. Right now? No. We're going to find out what our long lost friend, Nalasandra, wants with us. More specifically, what she wants with you."

"Well, all things considered we didn't really leave off on good terms with her before we went to Beacon."

"True, but I'm tired of her randomly popping up, and it's time she finally answers some questions."

I could tell from Qrow's tone that he was serious, but not in an angry way. In his information-gathering way. This wasn't a fighting mission, this was an intel mission. Which were sometimes the best ones, and then other times the ones I hated the most.

Either way, this was going to be interesting.


	7. Chapter 7

Volume 1, Episode 7: Fragile Memories

We'd spent the night switching shifts for who would be taking watch, but nothing ever happened. Eventually the sun climbed over the horizon and we'd both gotten out. All of our belongings were dry, so we changed in to our clothes. Qrow had an extra pair of his clothes and ended up tossing the ones from yesterday in to the river, as they were basically destroyed.

As Qrow began packing the tent up I started putting my claws on and flexed my hands, thankful for the healing properties that came with aura.

"Alright, Chess. You up for some tracking today?" Qrow asked as he finished packing the tent, threw his bag over his back, and strolled over to me.

"Always." I answered.

As Nalassandra, to our knowledge, hadn't been down by the waterfall with us we'd have to get back to where we were yesterday to catch any scent of her. Neither of us felt like scaling the cliff, so instead we began trekking down the river's edge, hoping the cliff would eventually taper off somewhere and there would be a hill or path we could climb to get back to where we were.

While I wasn't expecting to catch Nalassandra's scent, it didn't mean that I wasn't hyper-aware of any scent I came across. Being a faunus, I was blessed with a more sensitive sense of smell, sight (especially at night), and hearing than Qrow or anyone else I'd ever met had. It made my ability to track someone or something easier and better.

I sneezed as my nose was assaulted with multiple different stenches of grim, as was to be expected. I shook my head and kept moving forward, Qrow about two feet behind me off to my right. Eventually we made it to a point where the cliff dropped in to a hill and the ground level off. It would be extremely far out of our way to go all the way back, but I knew we would if we had to.

There was a gust of wind, and I was caught slightly off guard by how cold it was. And then I remembered, we were at the beginning of winter. I was surprised it hadn't snowed yet. It probably would start in the coming days.

With the wind came a faint scent I'd smelled before of Nalassandra. It was very faint, and it was old. But, it was there and it meant we didn't have to back track.

"Got it." I told Qrow to let him know I wasn't about to start bush whacking through the forest for no reason. Qrow nodded and followed me, no questions asked.

The smells coming from the grim, animals, river, etc. worked to mask Nalassandra's scent from me. In fact, I lost the trail a few times but was thankfully able to get it back. Eventually, I stopped moving and looked around carefully because the scent went from faint and old to in my face and fresh.

"She's been here recently." I whispered to Qrow, as I didn't know how recent or how close she might be to us now. Qrow nodded, not moving but looking around calmly.

We stood in silence, waiting to see, hear, or smell anything different. Then, out of nowhere, two yowls came from behind us. We spun around, my claws shooting out and Qrow taking his sword out in an instant.

Nalassandra's body slammed in to mine, knocking me to the ground. Her knees dug in to my thighs and her hands pushed in to my shoulders.

"Ha!" She laughed sharply. "Pinned ya again." She grinned, flashing her fangs to me. I swallowed as I looked at them, and then glared at her.

"Get off of me." I snarled, trying to wiggle any part of my body free. She wouldn't move, so I moved my right arm (from the elbow down) and swiped at her stomach with my claw. I must have just barely grazed her, because she hissed, pulled my upper body up slightly and slammed it back in to the ground. My head slammed in to the ground and I saw stars for a minute before they went away.

That was when I noticed the low grumble of an almost consistent growl coming off to my left where Qrow was. I couldn't see him past Nalassandra, but I remembered seeing two figures and knew that Qrow must be facing someone else.

"I said. Get. Off. Of. Me!" I snarled, twisting the left side of my body up quickly, catching her off guard and knocking her off of me. I grabbed her shoulders as she rolled off of me, rolling on top of her and pinning her to the ground.

She looked at me in shock, and chuckled. "Someone's grown up a bit, huh?" I didn't respond, growling in response.

Suddenly, I felt her leg move behind me from where I was sitting on top of her abdomen, and then felt a sharp pain in my tail as she slammed her foot down on it. I yowled in pain, quickly getting up and backing up a few feet. Nalassandra chuckled and stood up, dusting herself off and smirking at me.

As we stood up I was able to see Qrow and the person he was facing. It was a man with the same dark complexion as Nalassandra. He had large fangs just like she did, but he was far hairier, and his hair was darker. He had scraggly, long black hair that went slightly past his shoulders, and a scraggly black beard. His eyes were a vivid green and he had a scar that crossed from above his left eye to below it. He carried a long spear in his right hand, a long, serated bone blade at the end.

"Scar." Qrow greeted unkindly.

"Qrow, old friend. How… pleasant it is to see you." The man's voice was like liquid honey. Despite appearances it wasn't rough.

"You know him, Qrow?" Qrow only pursed his lips together and nodded slightly as he shifted his sword in his hand.

"Come now, we aren't here to fight." Scar said, holding his spear and free hand in the air in a peaceful gesture. I narrowed my eyes and moved up to Qrow's side as Nalassandra moved back to Scar's side.

"For some reason I don't believe that." Qrow responded.

"Come now, Qrow. I think you know why I'm here." Scar smiled in a way that could either be interpreted as evilly or normally as he motioned his free hand towards me. This had to do with me? What did he want with me?

"Yeah, I think I do. But I think it's time you two left us alone for a while. Our mission doesn't have anything to do with that yet." I blinked in confusion and looked at Qrow. Yet? They were important to our mission? Or, at least, they would be?

"Qrow? What's going on?" I asked.

"You mean you haven't told him?" Nalassandra suddenly shouted, her face lighting up in glee. "Oh this is going to be so much _fun_."

"Nala." Scar scolded gently. Nalassandra closed her mouth, though she was still smiling and her eyes were glinting in pure joy.

"No, I haven't. And he doesn't need to know for a while still." Qrow answered, his tone dropping from calm to threatening in a heartbeat.

"You deny the boy his history?" Scar asked in shock. He looked between Qrow to myself, and then smirked. "You deny my _son_ his heritage?"

I felt as if every ounce of blood in my body drained out right then and there. Everything went cold. I looked at Qrow. He had to be lying, right? Qrow's eyes lit in anger, and I knew from that split second, even as Qrow recomposed himself, that it must be true.

"You knew my father?" I asked, sheathing my claws. Qrow didn't look at me, keeping his gaze fixed on Scar. On my father. He didn't answer me. A moment passed, and my body reignited in anger.

"Look at me!" I shouted. Qrow blinked in shock and looked at me. He looked at me and his eyes grew incredibly dark and sad.

"Yes, Chess. I knew."

"And still you didn't tell him his father was alive. Or that he had a sister." I looked at Scar, who was looking at Nalassandra, and almost threw up. They were my blood family?

"You told me my family died." I clenched my teeth and looked back at Qrow.

"I told you your mother died." Qrow answered, closing his eyes and looking back at Scar, recomposed.

"Well now, that much is most certainly true." Scar nodded his head. He smirked as his eyes flicked between me and Qrow, before he took a bag- _my_ bag- from off his shoulder and tossed it at me.

"There, we'll be off now. We got what we wanted. We'll be in touch, gentlemen." And with that, Scar and Nalassandra took off. Qrow moved at first as if he were going to chase after them, but then stopped when he looked at me.

I was staring at my bag, on the ground and about a foot from me. Qrow knew. He knew that my father and sister were alive. And he hadn't told me. Qrow, the man I'd done nothing but idolize like my own father almost all of my life, had lied to me. I felt my eyes start tearing up and slammed them shut, clenching my fists and gritting my teeth.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you known who my family was? That they were alive?"

"I've known since the night I found you and took you to Ozpin."

"And you never once, not once, thought it was important enough for me to know?" I was shaking in anger and disappointment. In mistrust.

"Chess, listen to me." Qrow crossed the distance between us in two strides, and placed his hands on my shoulders, looking me straight in the eye as mine shot open. "There's something vital about your family, about _you_ , but I can't tell you yet. I promise, one day I will. But I can't right now, it's too dangerous. And it's not relevant to anything right now, but it will be one day."

I stared at him in silence.

"Please, just trust me."

I broke eye contact and shook my head, grabbing my bag and looking through it to make sure everything was there, and it was, including my phone. I threw my bag over my shoulder, and started moving back towards the road in silence.

How was I supposed to trust him from here on out? My whole life he'd let me believe that my family was dead. Sure, they probably weren't the greatest people, but he'd known they were alive.

And so had Ozpin. Ozpin, the person I idolized more than anyone, including Qrow, must have known as well. And he hadn't told me either. All of those nights as a child, Ozpin and Qrow taking turns taking care of me, reading me the same stories about the maidens and the silver-eyed warriors that they were telling everyone else about, seemed like such a lie now.

Part of me knew it was childish, but most of me just didn't care.

We reached the road and Qrow said nothing as he took the lead again. I blinked as something white fluttered in peripheral. I blinked as something cold landed on my cheek, and then realized that it was starting to snow. Both Qrow and I reached in to our bags and pulled out travelling cloaks. Mine was purple and his was white. We put them on and continued on our way.

We stopped occasionally for breaks, during which Qrow would attempt to engage with me in conversation only to be answered by silence or me standing up and starting down the road again. Eventually, he got fed up with it.

"Chess. Stop and come here." Qrow ordered. I stopped in my tracks ad turned to face him, finding that he was moving to the side of the path. He sat on a large rock and dropped his bag to his side and motioned for me to sit on the rock next to him.

"What is this about?" I asked as I threw my bag on the ground and sat next to him.

"This is about getting you to trust me again so you'll stop ignoring me like a child." Qrow took out his flask, took a swig, and put it down next to his foot. "Have you ever tried connecting to someone's aura?"

I scrunched my eyes and nose up in confusion. "No? I didn't even know that was a thing."

"It's not unless your semblance works that way. Or if you're part of the family your mother comes from."

I wasn't really paying attention before, but I was now. My tail flicked once, quickly, in surprise.

"My mother's family?"

"Like I said earlier, I can't explain everything. But I'm going to show you some part of it so you'll trust me again." Qrow placed his elbows on his knees and held his right hand out, palm towards me. I watched it for a moment, before placing my left palm against his.

"Now connect to my aura."

"How?" I asked irritably. Qrow shrugged.

"Dunno. Just do it." He smirked playfully. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance, but tried nonetheless.

I took a deep breath to calm down, trying to ignore Qrow's annoying tendencies. I'd never been great at controlling my aura, but other than my semblance I'd never needed to, and even then I used it to mask myself. I'd never needed, or wanted, to stretch it out before. The more it stretches, the thinner it gets, and the more vulnerable you are.

I could feel Qrow's aura radiating off of him. It was dark, but not in an evil way. In an, unlucky way. I visualized my aura pushing out and grabbing on to it, and suddenly images flooded my mind.

 _It was storming. My clothes were soaked through from the rain and I was frozen to the bone. I practically flew down the dirt road that I was on, towards the single speck of light in the distance. I reached the wooden cabin and took the steps leading up to the porch in one leap, and began pounding on the wooden door. I had to save her, I couldn't be late._

 _A beautiful woman opened the door. She had long, snow white hair. She wore a long white gown and looked at me with her vivid blue eyes._

" _Qrow? What are you doing here?" She looked behind herself in to the small cabin, before stepping outside and almost closing the door behind herself. She wrapped her arms tightly around her chest in an attempt to block the cold, her small white cat ears flattening to her head. She looked at me in both confusion and worry._

" _Tiuka, you've got to get out of here. Scar is coming." A loud clap of thunder rolled over as lightning flashed across the sky._

" _He's what?" Her voice rose in volume for a moment in her shock._

" _Mommy?" A small child's voice called from inside the cabin, before a set of tiny hands pulled the door open just far enough to let the child walk out and join us._

 _The child had bright, purple hair that now blew wildly in the wind. He wore a simple pair of black pajamas. He rubbed tiredly at his eyes as his small, purple cat tail drug across the porch._

" _Mommy, what's wrong?" The child could be no older than three. "Who's he?" He looked at me like no one else ever had. His bright, vivid yellow eyes looked straight through me, almost as if he was staring in to my soul._

" _This is Qrow, Chess." Tiuka crowed as she knelt down and swooped her son in to her arms. "Nothing's wrong, everything is going to be okay."_

 _Suddenly a roar erupted from a distance not far off. But it wasn't thunder, it was a lion's roar. I locked eyes with Tiuka, who placed her son back on the porch. She knelt down and sat on the ground, eye level with her only son. She smiled sadly, her eyes misting over. She'd never been happier or more beautiful than when she'd had her son._

" _Chess, Qrow is going to take you with him for a few days. You're going to meet mommy's friend Ozpin."_

" _Are you coming with us?"_

" _I will in a few days. I have to see your father first."_

" _Is daddy coming too?"_

 _The child's face lit up in hope as Tiuka chuckled softly, tears falling from her cheeks. The toddler had no idea what was going on, and how could he? His face turned from hopeful to confused as he reached up and wiped the tears from his mother's face._

" _Don't be sad, mommy. It'll be okay." Tiuka smiled radiantly at her son, tears falling more swiftly from her eyes as she wrapped her son in her arms._

" _Tiuka, I'm not leaving you." I couldn't. She was my best friend._

" _I'm not letting you fight for me again, Qrow." Tiuka stood up and placed a hand on her son's head and looked at me. "But I will ask that you fight for my son. I can take care of myself."_

 _I stood and stared at her, my heart breaking._

" _Please, Qrow."_

 _Another roar. This one much closer._

" _Mommy, look! It's daddy!" The child screamed in joy. He made to run off the porch, but without looking back or at him I quickly swept him in to my arms._

" _Qrow. Go." She commanded, wiping the last tears from her face. I knew there was no fighting her as I nodded._

 _I turned and ran. Not down the road I came from, but the road towards Beacon._

" _Scar, leave us!" I heard her yell in defiance behind us._

 _The child's head was facing behind us at the scene. "Qrow, why are mommy and daddy fighting?" I didn't respond. I only tried to run faster. If only I could fly._

 _Another roar. Weapons clattered and struck._

" _Mommy, no!" The child began squirming._

" _Chess, stop! You can't do anything!"_

 _There was a high pitched scream that was mirrored by Chess's equally loud one. The screams were instantly cut off and once they stopped Chess went slack in my arms. Tears fell from my eyes as I continued running._

I gasped in shock as I reeled my hand back from Qrow's, as if I had touched a hot stove.

"What was that?" I asked after a moment of silence in which I sat and tried to catch my breath. My heart was pounding heavily.

"Exactly what you think it was." Qrow dropped his hand and took another drink from his flask.

"How did I do that?"

"Your mother's family has an ability. Like Ruby's silver-eyed relatives." Qrow coughed and met my eyes. "You can connect auras with someone, and, with practice, you can sort through and find whatever memories you want. With or against their will."

"So why am I just learning about this?"

"I already told you. There's more to it that I can't tell you."

"Can I share my memories with someone? Can I change their memories?"

Qrow stood up quickly and looked at me very seriously. "I don't know, Chess. You'll have to find that out for yourself. But know something: Memories are precious. They shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Is that why you blocked that night from mine?"

Qrow stopped in his tracks and looked at me like I had just shot him.

"Don't act surprised. I don't care how young I was. I would never forget watching my father kill my mother." I stood up and grabbed my bag. "Or, for that matter, I'd never forget my family at all."

Qrow looked at me solemnly. "You didn't speak for weeks after I got you to Ozpin. He thought it'd be for the best if we blocked all of your memories before the day you got there. So, we did. And afterword's you were happy. You were a normal kid."

I looked at the ground.

"Please, Chess. Please don't resent us. We-"

I moved and closed the space between Qrow and myself, wrapping my arms around his chest. He was shocked at first, but slowly relaxed and returned the embrace.

"I don't care anymore." I released Qrow and stepped back. "I trust you. Completely. Just tell me what I need to know, when I need to know it."

"Of course." Qrow looked around at the snow falling around us. "Now, back to Haven."

"This is horse shit!" I shouted, standing up and kicking a rut in to the nearby snow bank. Qrow chuckled from where he sat.

"Aura control just isn't your strong point, is it?" He laughed, drinking out of his flask.

I growled in response, flicking my tail. Give me any other type of goal to meet. Anything at all besides controlling aura, and I could do it. We'd been training for weeks trying to get my skills at seeing memories better as we continued traveling towards Haven. But I hadn't gotten through to Qrow barely at all. And if I had I would only see a few moments of a conversation between us that had happened earlier that day.

"Laugh all you want, Qrow. Eventually I'll know every embarrassing fact about you."

"With your skills you wouldn't know them even if I told you." He teased.

Qrow's phone began ringing, muffled by the other contents of his bag. He pulled it out, looked at whoever it was calling him, and answered.

"What's wrong, Tai." Taiyang was calling him? Something must be really wrong.

"She what?" Qrow stood up in a flash, throwing his bag over his shoulder and staring off in the distance.

"Okay. Tai… Tai, listen to me. I'll find her. I'll keep her safe." There was a pause for a few minutes. "Of course, Tai. I promise. Just take care of Yang."

Qrow hung up and turned to me. "Ruby ran off. She's meeting up with Pyrrha's team and she's heading to Haven."

I sighed in annoyance. Of course. Now we were on babysitting detail.

"Qrow, we're going to lose weeks of progress."

"I know. But this is what's going to happen. I'm going to go ahead. I can cover a lot of ground a lot faster by myself. You're going to back track by yourself. And you're going to do so _carefully_." He met my eyes seriously. "I'll have my phone. I'll let you know where they're at when I catch up with them. If you have any problems- and I mean _any,_ Chess. You call me, got it?"

"Of course, Qrow. This isn't my first time travelling without you." Qrow looked at me for a few minutes, before nodding, turning away, and running back towards the way we came.

I sighed and started walking in the same direction.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm so, so sorry for the sudden inactivity. I got really busy in some life stuff but I'm going to work on getting back in a schedule and trying to write more again. If anything I'll be updating, just slowly and infrequently. I apologize in advance lol. As always, thank you so much for reading! Constructive criticism and reviews are always wanted and thanks in advance for any!**

Volume 1, Episode 8:

Traveling alone, while calming, is really boring. You can't even joke about the funny shape of a cloud to anyone because, guess what, there's no one to joke with. Add to the fact that I apparently now had a father and sister who wanted to seemingly kill me and the calming part was pretty much out the window.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the message I'd gotten from Qrow a few hours ago. All it read was "Shion." Which, thankfully, I was able to find on my map. I was just glad I'd heard from him, and that it wasn't in a panicked message or phone call, which meant he'd found them and no one was hurt.

"Who're the kids that were on Pyrrha's team?" I wondered aloud. I'd been too busy worrying about Pyrrha and trying to connect with her that I hadn't even taken the time to see who was on her team. Short of RWBY, I hadn't really paid attention to any of the other teams. Hopefully at least someone from Pyrrha's team was capable. Hopefully they wouldn't just get themselves killed.

I'd only been traveling for almost two weeks, but since we'd basically made it to the Mistral border it was a pretty big back track. Hopefully I would end up taking the same path as them and catch up somewhere in the middle. With Qrow watching over them hopefully nothing would go wrong.

I coughed after something rasped through my throat, paying attention to my surroundings again. Something was off. I stopped moving and looked around, and realized what it was. A huge plume of smoke rose in to the sky from not much further down the path I was on. Something was on fire, and with it on the path I was willing to bet it was either a town or a house.

Without thinking I reacted, and started sprinting down the path. It didn't take long before I started hearing screams, and as I got closer I could hear the fire, things breaking, weapons clashing. I came to a large wooden wall, surrounding the town, with a sign on it that read "Kuchinashi" and remembered from my map that this was the next town on my route to Shion.

A large building in the center of the town was on fire, completely in flames by now. People were running around in a frenzy, but some were carrying weapons. Sword, axes, staves, anything that could generally be used as a weapon was being used. They weren't wearing any specific uniform, but they all wore a red bandana somewhere on their bodies. Some wore them on their bicep, others around their mouths, and some wore them on their legs.

"Bandits?" I snarled to myself, unsheathing my claws as I watched one of them chase after a woman running out of a house. "Hey!" I shouted, gaining his attention as I ran and leaped on top of him. He dropped his sword and grunted as he hit the ground underneath me.

"Get off of me!" He shouted from behind a red bandana as he struggled underneath me. I looked up to find the woman he'd been chasing just standing there, staring at us in shock.

"Go!" I shouted at her. "Get out of here!"

She gasped in shock, or fear maybe, and turned and ran. I looked back down at the man I was on top of, before grabbing his sword and smacking the hilt of it in to his head, knocking him unconscious. I got off of him, tossing the sword to the side, and returned to looking around.

I began coughing as more smoke entered the air and clawed its way in to my throat. The fire from the building had spread to multiple buildings. I noticed for the first time that not every person wearing a red bandana was chasing someone, I noticed multiple ones fleeing buildings carrying bags or boxes of items. Looters?

"Bandits?" I heard weapons clashing from nearby, and turned to watch as a man ran around a corner, being chased by a woman. He looked as if he were a fighter. He could even be a hunter. He carried two swords, one in each hand, and turned around to face the woman again.

The woman had long, black, feathery hair. She wore a black skirt and a red and black shirt, along with a red belt and something made from feathers hanging from her right hip. She also had red leather gauntlets, black leggings with some sort of odd red pattern on them, and black leather boots. But, those were not the most characteristic things about her appearance.

She wore a mask that seemed to have come from a creature of Grim. I couldn't see her face, only the bright white mask with red stripes that all Grim have of some sort. There were four eye slits, but you could see two bright red eyes emanating behind two of them. I was instantly intimidated looking at her. I didn't know if it was because of the mask, or something else, but my heart was pounding and a new rush of adrenaline coursed through my body in fear.

I thought the man would be able to at least put up a fight, but in the blink of an eye she'd struck him down and I didn't even know how. I mean I literally blinked and he was falling to his knees, dead. All I saw was her hand on the hilt of the sword that was at her side, but the sword was still in its long black sheath.

She stood relaxed as she looked at the body, before she looked up and saw me. I watched as she looked at me, and then looked at the unconscious man next to me, and then back at me. Her grip on her sword tightened, and she tensed up. My breath caught in my throat, but I crouched down nonetheless, prepared for a fight.

The woman ran at me, and I retaliated and ran at her. I planned on using my semblance to turn invisible, but before I could there was a searing pain that sliced across my chest. I heard the hiss of metal sliding on sheath, and I flew back in to the wooden wall surrounding the town, and slammed back on the ground.

I groaned and gripped at my chest, feeling something warm, wet, and sticky. I pulled my hands away and found them covered in blood- _my_ blood.

"Hm. You actually survived that." The woman muttered as she walked closer to me, picking up on of the fallen man's swords in her hand. My vision was going blurry, I couldn't even stand as I watched her come near me. "You must be a hunter if your aura is strong enough to keep me from killing you in one blow."

She reached down with her free hand and grabbed the scruff of my shirt and pulled me to my feet. I didn't help her at all, I couldn't. I was dead weight. But she lifted me up like I was nothing. I groaned in pain as she looked at me intensely.

"Too bad it won't save you again."

And then she stabbed the sword in to my stomach. I screamed in pain. She smirked sadistically, before driving the sword further in to my body, cutting through my back (thankfully missing my spine), and into the wooden wall behind me. I coughed, blood splattering on her mask. She released her grip on the sword, but it was planted firmly in to the wall and I didn't even hardly move. However now I was forced to stand on my own, or risk my body giving out and the sword cutting through the rest of me.

Without another word the woman turned and ran off after the rest of the bandits. By now almost the whole town was on fire. People were still screaming, most of the remaining men were running around with buckets of water, desperately trying to contain whatever part of the fire they could. But it wasn't helping at all.

Suddenly blood curling howls filled the air, and further in the distance the worst, most inhuman scream I'd ever heard echoed through the air. The scream shook me harder than anything else in my life ever had. I was terrified of whatever was behind it. I grabbed the sword hilt protruding from my abdomen, and tried my hardest to pull the sword at least out of the wall, but I was too weak to make it budge.

This was how I was going to die. A bandit would be my killer and my body would be eaten by Grim.

Suddenly, I watched a woman with two younger children run around a corner and towards me. The children raced ahead of the woman, ignoring me, and made for the corner of the wall near me. The boy must have been about twelve, while the girl with him seemed about eight. He pushed against the wall and revealed a hole, and held it open for the girl to climb under.

"Come on, Becca! We've got to go!" He called after the woman, who was just passing by me. She also ignored me, and it occurred to me that I probably already looked dead.

"Help." It took all of my strength to utter the word, and it was barely above a whisper, but the woman stopped and spun around to look at me, her eyes filled with horror.

"Becca! Why are you stopping?" The boy shouted, running back down towards us.

"Ryan, help me." Becca looked at me and then back the way they'd come anxiously, probably trying to decide if it was worth it to help me. Eventually, she grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled. The boy, Ryan, watched in horror as more blood flowed from the wound, and watched as I collapsed as Becca pulled the entire sword out of me.

"Damn it, Becca! If we get killed helping him-" I didn't hear anymore of what they were saying as I felt both of them put my arms around their shoulders and start carrying me away. I'd lost too much blood. I was probably going to die even if they did manage to get us out of here and away from the Grim.

My vision darkened, and I passed out in their arms.

"Is he dead?"

"No, Sammie. He's just sleeping."

"He looks dead."

"He's fine."

The darkness that had swallowed me was lightened by a blinding light behind my closed eyelids. I tried swallowing, only to have my throat feel like sandpaper. Slowly my eyes flickered open, and I groaned as the bright light assaulted me.

"Where am I?" I whispered, unable to talk any louder.

"Here." A cool cup of water was suddenly placed against my lips, a hand lifting my head up so I could drink.

I closed my eyes and took a small sip, and then rapidly gulped the rest of the glass down. Once I'd finished I felt monumentally better. I groaned and opened my eyes and then pushed against the bed I was sitting on in order to sit up.

I instantly grunted loudly and fell back on the bed as pain racked my body from my abdomen, shooting through every part of my body. I coughed harshly and took a few deep breaths, before opening my eyes again and looking around.

The woman who had run by me in the town was sitting next to me, an empty glass in her hand. She looked tired, but otherwise she seemed okay. Closer to the door stood the little girl who had been with her. The boy was nowhere to be seen.

The room I was in was small, but warm and cozy. I could already tell that we were in a quaint, small cabin that had been turned in to a home.

Now that I was no longer imminently dying, I paid more attention to the woman. What was her name? Becca? She had light, blonde hair that was a little darker than Yang's and had warm, amber eyes. She wore a simple outfit of jeans and a black tank top.

The little girl looked almost exactly like her, except around eight and had blue eyes. The girl wore black shorts and a green t-shirt.

"How long?" I asked as I looked back at Becca.

"How long what?" She replied, setting the empty glass on a nearby table.

"How long have I been out?" I hissed, gathering my bearings and sitting up slowly.

"You've been out for two days. You're lucky that you lived. I had to try to stop your bleeding in the middle of the woods a whole day out from the cabin."

"You did that? Without stitches?"

"Sammie and Ryan helped, obviously, but yes. It also helps that you're a huntsman. So after your aura regenerated a bit it helped speed up the healing."

"So I'm in pain not because it isn't healed, but because…?" I drifted off, not knowing why I was in so much pain if I had apparently fully healed.

"It's not fully healed yet. Probably by the end of the day it will be, but it was healing slowly. Whatever happened to you really screwed with your aura. It hasn't been regenerating quickly.

Suddenly a door somewhere in the house slammed shut and loud footsteps came running towards the room we were in. The boy from a few nights ago suddenly appeared in the doorframe, breathing heavily and a panicked look on his face.

"Becca! They're close. We have to go, now."

Without hesitating the woman stood up and looked at the little girl. "Get your bag and mine and meet me with Ryan in the back in three minutes. Go." The girl stood up and hurried off without a question.

"What's happening? Who's close?"

"The bandits from the other night. Long story short they've been looking for us everywhere they go. They found us at the village and burned it down and slaughtered everyone else in the process of trying to help us." She crossed the room and reached in to a drawer, where she proceeded to pull out all of my clothes and everything that I'd previously had on me. She placed them on the bed by my feet.

"I'd suggest you get ready and go. Otherwise you'll be caught up in something you don't want to be caught up in."

Then she left. Without hesitating I got up and put on the clothes, which were stained with my blood and haphazardly stitched together, trying to ignore the pain stabbing me through my abdomen as I did so. Where was I going to go? I pulled out my phone and saw that I had messages from Qrow, but I didn't want to check them yet. Not when I was on such a limited time frame.

I decided to leave with Becca, Sammie, and Ryan and go from there. Besides, if these bandits were after them they wouldn't stand a chance if they were caught. I threw my bag over my shoulder and walked down the only hall in the house to the front door as I strapped my claws in place.

I opened the front door and was met with the scene of dozens of surrounding trees. We were in the middle of a dense part of the forest. I closed the door and walked around back, just catching up as the three were about to leave. Becca was taking a bag from Sammie and Ryan was picking up a nearby tree branch.

"Oh we're not bringing him, are we?" Ryan complained. "He's already been enough trouble."

"Look, kid. I may not be at top condition but I'm pretty sure that out of any of us I'm the most likely one to not get killed by those people." Ryan glared at me and Becca gazed at me calmly. "Besides, I want to thank you for saving me when you obviously didn't have to. Now let's go." Becca nodded and we set off in to the woods, Ryan in the lead.

We started off walking and then soon picked up the pace in to a steady jog. I didn't know why these bandits were after them, but I didn't care. They'd saved my life. Right now, all that mattered was getting them away and finding the next town so I could get back on track to catching up with Qrow.

"Hey, kid." I called up in front of me. "What's the closest town, and how far away is it?"

"Iganbana." Becca replied without looking at me. "It's only an hour or so out." I nodded, which was ridiculous because how could she have seen that with her back to me?

Suddenly, someone shot out from the left side of us and crashed in to Ryan, who yelped in shock. I cursed under my breath as we all slid to a halt. My aura must not be in the best condition if I hadn't even noticed that they'd caught up to us.

"Get off him!" I shouted as I ran over to the struggling mass that was Ryan and the bandit that had caught him. I unsheathed my claws and raked my right hand down the bandit's back, earning a loud scream as he rolled off Ryan to his feet.

He unsheathed a sword as he turned to face me, before lunging. I easily side stepped to the left and brought my knee in to the man's abdomen, grabbing the back of his shirt and throwing him behind me in to the dirt.

I turned to finish fighting him before I heard a sharp gasp from off to my left. I turned to find that there were five bandits surrounding Becca and Sammie. I stepped forward towards them before I felt a presence to my right. Before I could even look a foot slammed in to my side and knocked me to the ground.

I coughed and grabbed my side as I pushed myself to a sitting position, before I felt the sharp tip of a sword pointed at my throat. I instantly froze, staring up the long, blood red blade and up at the wielder. It was the woman bandit with the Grim mask from the other night. Just like before my heart started beating rapidly. This time, however, my whole body started trembling slightly.

"You're still alive?" She cooed to herself. "How… interesting."

I couldn't respond I was so terrified. I could hardly breathe.

"Commander. What do you want us to do with these three?" One of the bandits by Becca and Sammie asked.

The woman answered without hesitating. "They're traitors. Kill them."

Before I could do anything to save them. Before I could say anything to try to convince them otherwise, I heard the hiss of multiple swords or knives being drawn. The only thing I could do was flick my eyes over to watch as in moments the small family was murdered.

The bandit that I'd fought over by Ryan stabbed the boy through the abdomen with his sword. Unlike me, Ryan had no huntsman's aura to save him. He fell the ground, bleeding profusely, if not yet dead he would be dead in minutes. A teenager drew a dagger and slit little Sammie's throat with it, pushing her to the ground. Two bandits grabbed and restrained a struggling Becca, forcing her to kneel to the ground.

"No! Please! Stop this!" A woman carrying a large battle axe walked over, reached over her head with her weapon, and without hesitating decapitated Becca. Silence washed over the scene. I fearfully and silently looked up at the bandit leader, knowing that I would die here and now.

"There's something interesting about you. However, you're too weak for me to put my finger on it. If I kill you I'll never find out what it is." She pulled her sword away from me, sheathing it. However I still sat completely still, absolutely petrified.

The woman stepped closer to me, before crouching down. She came to my eye level, her face only a few feet from mine now.

"I'll let you live, scared little cat. I'll let you live with the curiosity of finding out what it is that's so interesting about you. You don't have to worry about seeking me out for revenge. I'll be keeping an eye on you. When I've decided what I want to do next with you I'll show up." She then stood up, and a dark, red and purple portal opened up behind her. Without hesitating all of the bandits walked through the portal, followed by her, and then it closed. I was now left alone in the middle of the woods surrounded by the bodies of the woman and two children who had saved my life.

I walked through the dark forest in silence. I was emotionless and numb. I had sat on the ground in fear for a long time before I finally stood up and proceeded to use whatever was around me to dig graves for the family. I spent hours doing so, crying the whole time, but I was able to finally bury them. It wasn't the burial they deserved. It was shoddily done and the weather would most likely reveal their corpses in the coming days or weeks.

I'd searched their bags and taken whatever they had that I needed. I'd sat and looked at the messages from Qrow. They were almost to Iganbana now, which was perfect for me location and time wise. I'd managed to get a rough idea of where we'd been, mostly thanks to the river that I was following. Eventually it'd dump me on to the path that ran through Iganbana and there I'd be.

Eventually it did just that. I climbed up a large hill and as I reached the top, lo and behold there was the path on the other side. Only twenty more minutes of walking and I'd be arriving in Iganbana. Suddenly, a loud roar echoed and I flinched, tripping and rolling down the hill to the bottom. I stood up expecting to be faced with Scar or Nala or both, but instead rain started pouring from the sky.

I groaned in annoyance with both the weather and myself, before standing up and slowly trudging off towards the town. I pulled my phone out and called Qrow.

"Is something wrong?" He asked instantly, I'm not even sure the phone had been allowed to start ringing.

"Wow. Hello to you too. No, I'm fine. I'm almost at Iganbana."

"Oh, okay. Well I'm at The Night Locus, it's a tavern down the main street. Table upstairs. Just don't let Ruby or her friends see you."

With that he hung up, and I glared at my phone in annoyance. Rude. He must either be busy, or he was flirting with a girl. I rolled my eyes and threw my phone back in to my pocket, and finished limping in to town.

I found the tavern pretty easily. Surprisingly it wasn't the shadiest tavern we'd ever gone to. By the time I walked in I was soaked through, and I was shaking like a leaf.

"Hello, sir. Can I-" A waitress wearing a red dress had approached me, but she stopped as she took in my apparel, and saw all the dried blood on my clothes.

"I'm fine, thanks. Just meeting a friend upstairs." I walked away quickly, so as to avoid any unnecessary questions, and quickly made my way upstairs.

There were only a few tables upstairs, and all of them were empty save for a table with two people at it. One was Qrow, and the other was a lady with long, raven black hair.

I coughed so as to make my presence known, although Qrow probably already knew I was there. The turned to look at me.

"Hey, kid." He said casually, before taking in my appearance and looking alarmed. He quickly stood up as I crossed the remaining distance and stood in front of him, his frame blocking the woman from my view. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Long story. Later." I muttered as I grabbed a chair from a nearby table and positioned it so I could sit down. All I really wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. Qrow muttered something under his breath but moved back and sat down, revealing the woman to me again.

She looked at me, and expression running across her face of a predator playing with its prey. She had bright red eyes just like Qrow's, and wore red armor.

That's when I noticed the bright white Grim mask sitting on the table. My hands were positioned on the back of the chair that I was going to sit in, and I froze with them there. My breath hitched in my throat as I stared at the mask, and my heart started beating rapidly.

"Kid, this is my sister, Raven. Raven, this is Cheshmire."

In response, all Raven did was chuckle. I wanted to run down the stairs and cry for my mother.

"What's wrong with you?" Qrow asked me, sitting up straight as he'd previously been slouched down.

I took a deep breath and looked from the mask to Raven herself, steeling my nerves a bit. There was no way she could kill me now. Not with Qrow around. He wouldn't stand for it.

"We've met before." Raven cooed, placing her chin in her hand as she set her elbow on the table.

"You've met before?" Qrow looked from Raven to me and back to Raven in utter confusion.

"Yeah, she's the one who did this to me." I snarled, sitting down and clenching my hands around my knees.

"She did what?"

"And she murdered a whole town. And an innocent family."

"They weren't innocent."

"One of them was a little girl!" I shouted. My claws were digging in to my leg, and I took a deep breath and relaxed them.

"They were traitors."

There was silence for a long minute as Raven and I glared at each other.

"You attacked my apprentice?" Qrow asked his sister, a stern and serious expression taking hold of him.

"He attacked my bandits first. I didn't even know he was a huntsman until after I struck him and he lived. Then I stabbed him. And then, only earlier this morning, did I find out he was still alive. Something about him is interesting. So I let him live."

"He's Tiuka's son."

"Ohh, so that's what's interesting about him. Well, I'm still interested to see what he does with himself. I'll decide what to do about him later."

"You'll decide nothing. You ever touch him again and I'll be the one you're fighting next. Got me, sis?" I'd never seen Qrow so serious before, but here he was, threatening his own sister over me.

"Whatever, Qrow. Anyway's back to business."

"Yes, back to business." Qrow snarled. "Did you know Yang lost her arm?"

Yang? Why were we talking about Yang all of a sudden?

"That's not-"

"Rhetorical question." Qrow interrupted her. "I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist."

That's when it all clicked in to place. Qrow wasn't just Ruby and Yang's uncle because he had been on Tai's team. Biologically he was Yang's actual uncle. Which meant that this woman. This, this monster. Was Yang's mother. And she'd never, ever been in the picture since Yang had been born. Not once.

"I saved her."

"Once. Because that was your rule, right? Real 'Mom of the Year' material."

I slammed my fists on the table. I was done with this conversation. I was done with this woman.

"You're Yang's mom?" I was shaking I was so mad. I couldn't help myself.

"Wow, Qrow. You really picked the brightest apple of the bunch, didn't you?"

"Shut up!" I shouted. Raven's eyes snapped to me and her expression went from a humorous one to a serious one in the blink of an eye.

"You don't deserve a family. You don't deserve the right to call up and just meet up with your brother whenever you want to. Your own daughter doesn't even know what her mother looks like. She's never seen you her entire life. And here you are, running around, _slaughtering_ innocent people with a group of bandits."

"Kid-" Qrow tried to stop me, but I couldn't stop. I wouldn't stop.

"No! Fuck you! If you ever come around Yang ever again I'll murder you!"

Suddenly Raven's hand was around my throat, and her face was next to mine, her lips at my right ear.

"Listen to me very carefully, kid. You're only alive right now because I decided to spare you, got it? Don't make threats you can't keep. You can't even move right now, can you?"

She was right, my heart was racing in my chest, my palms were sweaty and my body was paralyzed in fear.

"Your heart is just jumping away in your chest, isn't it, scared little cat?" I could hardly breathe. Why did she have this effect on me? She released my throat and sat back in her chair.

She turned back and faced Qrow, who was looking at me in worry.

"I told you Beacon would fall, and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail, and he has. Now you tell me. Does. Salem. Have it?"

Qrow waited a few heartbeats to answer. I regained my composure in this space of silence, able to at least move. I was still furious that Raven turned out to be Yang's mother, but I wasn't stupid enough to say anything about it again tonight.

"I thought you weren't interested in all that." Qrow replied calmly.

"I just want to know what we're up against."

"And which 'we' are you referring to?" Qrow had almost a smile on his face. He enjoyed withholding information from his sister, whether he knew what he was talking about or not.

Qrow sighed and picked up his glass of liquor in front of him.

"You should come back, Raven." My head snapped to look at him. "The only way we beat her is by working together. All of us." He was asking her to come back? This psychopath? Why?

"You're the one who left. The tribe raised us, and you turned your back on them."

Wait, the bandits were their family? The people they'd grown up around? What kind of history did they have?

"They were killers and thieves."

"They were your family."

"You have a very skewed perception of that word."

Raven suddenly stood up, pushing her chair up. I noticeably flinched, to which she only scoffed at.

"I lead our people now. And as leader I will do everything to ensure our survival."

"I saw. The people of Shion saw too."

"The weak die. The strong live. Those are the rules."

"Well, you've certainly got someone strong on your side. I've seen the damage."

"We couldn't have known the Grim would set in as quickly as they did."

"I'm not talking about the Grim. And I'm not talking about you, either."

If he wasn't talking about the Grim, and he wasn't talking about Raven, then who could he possibly be talking about? Who did Raven have on her side with her that was that powerful?

"If you don't know where the relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about."

Raven reached across the table to pick up her mask. Qrow, however, quickly slammed his hand down on it, keeping Raven there.

"I don't know where the Spring Maiden is, either. And if you do, I need you to tell me."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because without her we're all going to die."

"And which 'we' are you referring to?"

Raven smirked slyly as Qrow released her mask and put it on. A portal suddenly opened up behind her and she slowly strode through it before it closed.

There was a loud gasp and crash behind us, and we turned to find the waitress from earlier had come up with glasses and dropped all of them in her shock.

I stood up quickly and rushed over to her, quickly helping her brush all of the broken glass together in to a pile.

"I'm sorry, I'm such a clutz." She shook her head and I noticed her voice tremble slightly and her hands were shaking.

"You just watched a woman walk through a portal. There's nothing clutzy about that." I chuckled, standing up as we finished piling the glass together.

She turned and walked away, presumably to get a broom, and I turned back and strode back to my chair. Qrow finished off his drink and sighed in content.

"So you don't have any idea on where the Spring Maiden is?" I asked.

"Nope. No clue." He replied, stretching back in his chair before leaning back towards me. "Enough about that though. How did you survive Raven?"

"I didn't try to, if that's what you're asking. I just, didn't die."

There was a moment of silence as Qrow inspected me. Like, really inspected me. He continuously looked me up and down, spending a lot of time looking at the roughly sewn, bloodstained clothes I wore. I poked my abdomen a few times, earning groans in response.

Finally, he turned his whole body in his chair to face me, placed his left elbow on the table, and held his arm up, palm facing me, and stared at me calmly. I knew what he wanted from me, and I knew I couldn't give it to him.

"I can't."

"You've done it before."

"I'm not healing as fast as normal, Qrow. My aura isn't regenerating as fast." I stared at the wood grains in the table.

"So deal with it. If it's something you can only do when your aura is at 100% then you'll never be able to do it." He stood up and started walking away. "Either get better or give up on learning."


End file.
